Blown Sky High
by Thera Menders
Summary: The past had been buried, his memories erased. Now Warren's powers are evolving and he's being targeted for capture. Chaney is the telekinetic agent sent in to monitor him, but things go wrong. Students are captured, others killed, and Sky High is no more
1. Arriving at Sky High

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters in Sky High. But the OCs and the story line are completely mine. No touchie. ;P

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Title: Blown Sky High

Author: Thera Menders

Summary: Most of the kids in Sky High are the low-risk ones. Yes, their powers can occasionally be impressive, but the truth is that they aren't the dangerous kids. The kids at Sky High can afford to be let out in a public place. High risk kids are usually kept under wraps, where no one is going to get hurt by them, and they can't destroy the whole world by accident. There are a few exceptions, however, and Warren Peace is one of them. His powers have been developing lately, spurred by Royal Pain's attack three years back, and with rapid development comes an unpredictable amount of control. There are some people who are worried about this, and they send in Chaney Chai to monitor Warren Peace's developing powers. Her mission has two parts: make sure he doesn't get anyone hurt (including himself), and keep the bad guys away from him. Otherwise, some of the REALLY scary villains may try to monopolize his power and wipe out a lot of lives in the process.

But to take on such a dangerous job, they had to send in someone with enough cabability to handle the situation. Chaney is a feild agent that packs a punch, but there are a few personal reasons that she took this job...

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Chapter 1 -Meeting the Gang

Walking into the school for the first time was like walking into a zoo. Chaney felt like the eye of the storm—the one area of calm and control amidst a hurricane of chaotic activity.

Sky High. It sounded cliché, it looked cliché…it was cliché. If it weren't for the attendance of a person of interest, she never would have set foot here.

In all truth, these were the children the world's superheroes were willing to expose. They were a…cover for the real risks. Supernatural men and women —who had any sort of brain—did not congregate with their children in any sort of public display like this unless they were certain that the world would be safe if something went wrong.

Like three years ago. It still gave her pain to think that anyone would think a school like this would be a "good idea." It was basically like painting a big target on the school and saying "the world's future lies here, packaged and located for your convenience, SHOOT ME DOWN!"

Someone bumped into her, and Chaney turned to look at a cheery-faced red-head with a sweet smile.

"Oh, I'm so sorry about that. I should have been looking where I was going." The redhead said, and Chaney grinned before waving her off.

"Don't worry about it. I'm just not used to crowds like this." Chaney glanced over the crowd once more.

"You're new here?" The girl asked.

Chaney nodded. "I just transferred."

The redhead looked puzzled for a moment. "I thought it was hard to transfer normal high school classes to Sky High."

Chaney nodded. "It is." She pulled out the papers she'd been given by Principal Powerpuff or whatever the name had been. "I'm going to take a test-out with…Coach Bloom?"

The redhead looked like her eyes were going to jump out of her head for a moment, and then she raised a dainty hand to her face to hold in the laughter. She glanced around, abashed, and Chaney watched in exasperated impatience.

"You may not want to call him that to his face," the girl said in a conspirator's whisper. "You would get placed in the sidekick class faster than you could blink!"

Chaney smiled. "Thanks for the warning."

"Hey Layla, who's this?"

The two girls turned to the newcomer, and Chaney noted the black hair and purple trailing locks. Cute color combination, she supposed. Odd fashion sense though…Chaney smiled as the girl she'd been speaking to introduced her.

"Magenta, this is one of the newcomers. Her name's…um…" Layla turned to Chaney with a look of horror on her face. "I'm so sorry. I completely forgot to ask you what your name was."

Such melodrama. It was kinda funny. "My name's Chaney." She grinned.

Layla smiled. "Well, nice to meet you Chaney."

Magenta smiled. "Yeah. Nice to meet you."

"Magenta, Layla! Will's looking for you guys," came another voice, and Chaney turned as a boy—who was practically an albino, he was so blond—came up and stopped in front of the two girls. Chaney noted the "eyes" he sent Magenta's way, and saw the look of pleasure light up Layla's eyes. Hmm. So Sky High was like every other school then…a place to meet and mate, apparently.

Chaney sighed.

"We should probably get going," Layla said to Chaney. "Maybe we can talk again later."

Chaney nodded as the three turned and ran off, leaving her to once more be the lone stance of sanity amidst the idiotic frolicking of lovesick, chattering peers.

_Are they REALLY the same age as me?_ Chaney sighed and turned to follow her directions to the test with Coach _Bloom_. She flipped her long black hair out of the way.

She was halfway to the building when she noticed one of the side doors open with enough force to slam against the outside wall. A guy stormed out, gripping one arm as though in pain—well, technically he just walked out quickly, but with the feeling of tension surrounding him it literally felt like a storm. She actually saw the air around him rippling with heat, and the closed, furious expression on his face mixed with a look of pain and irritation. He walked over to a low wall and turned to lean against it before reaching into his leather bomber jacket for a pack of cigarettes. A flick of his fingers, and a flame sprang up on his thumb.

Wow. There he was. Her 'person of interest.' Chaney glanced down at her papers. Actually, it was almost too convenient. She hadn't expected to find him so quickly.

She reached into her backpack and pulled out a worn picture. It was a three-year old picture, and he had matured a lot. His dark brown and red hair was still long, the chocolate eyes (she dared anyone to describe his eyes like that _to his face_) still dark and hooded by smooth, dark brows. The strong chin with just a hint of a cleft, and the full, sulking lips settled over it were the same tempting combo—forbidden fruit denied by the forward, aggressive tilt of his head, the set of his shoulders, the brooding look in his eyes that hinted at a temper simmering just below the surface, ready to burst forth and sear the nearest victim. Oh, and the shoulders, by the way, were broader than they had been just a few years back. His posture had "denied access" written all over it, which was probably half the reason Chaney noted so many girls fawning from afar. They giggled and pointed and fanned themselves in mock swoons. She chuckled and shook her head, and went back to her scrutiny.

The way he dressed, the leather, the black beneath it, the worn pants and rugged boots…it was either an indication of character, a proclamation of his desire to be left alone or fight off all comers, or both. The problem was that he was gorgeous, so of course the girls wanted to think the best of him. Wanted to believe there was a good boy beneath the straight-faced scowl.

Hehehe. If only they knew.

Anyway. He just looked older somehow. A little taller, a little leaner. She was happy to see that his posture had improved. Handsome men over six feet that weren't skin and bones—and even had enough shape and muscle to look very natural with all that height—shouldn't slump even the slightest bit. It detracted from the shape of that magnificent back.

As he leaned against the wall, she got an overwhelming impression of length, strength, and…deception. His mask was really quite perfect. And oh so sexy.

She walked over then, and he raised his eyes.

"Can I bum one off you?" Chaney asked, and he glared at her for a moment. Then he lifted his arm and tossed the pack at her. She pulled one out and walked up to lean against the wall next to him. She had a lighter in one pocket, since he didn't seem eager to aid on that front, and pulled it out to light her own. Then she handed him the pack back and they smoked in silence for a time.

She liked cigars better, she thought as the smoke came swirling out of her mouth on a soft breath. They tasted better. What the heck though.

He was flexing his right hand, she noticed. The skin was red—it looked like a burn, and he was trying to hide it. Ergo the glare when she walked up. Big tough boy—who by reputation and ability is _supposed_ to be unable to get burnt—didn't want anyone around to see the boo boo.

She chuckled to herself. It looked to her like the reports about his growing instability were true.

"What's so funny?" He asked sharply.

"Notthin. I just remembered what one of Principal Powerpuff's cronies told me."

His eyebrows shot up at the principal's new nickname and he let out a small laugh. "What's that?"

"I heard there's a guy on the grounds I'm supposed to be scared of. Tall, menacing guy with long brown and red hair or something like that."

"Are you?" Apparently he was at least smart enough to know who she was talking about.

"Haven't decided yet. But he's no pansy." She turned to him as she huffed out another breath of smoke.

"So you're new here." He was fishing for confirmation. Not information. Was there a brain behind those seductive brown eyes after all?

"Brand. I'm joining the senior class. See you around." She turned to walk off then and took a long, slow draw on the cigarette as she did so.

"Warren Peace," he said to her back.

She turned back momentarily. "Chaney Chai." An oriental American name—because she was half Japanese and all American. She glanced down at the papers in her hands. "Actually, could you tell me how to get to Power Placement?"

He didn't respond for a moment; just looked at her contemplatively. Then he gestured with his good hand—the one holding the cigarette. "Two buildings back. Just follow any kids that look nervous enough to piss their pants."

"'Kay. Thanks." She lifted her cig in farewell and left.

Warren Peace. The whole reason she was here. Chaney tossed the cigarette in the first garbage can she came across and exhaled the last of the smoke. Honestly, she didn't like that feeling in her lungs, but she preferred subtle introductions to brazen manhunts.

She was walking up the front steps when she felt it. Goosebumps trailed down her arms, and she slowed.

Eight years of feild experience told her someone was watching. Chaney asked a passing student for directions, and glanced around under the cover of being lost. She saw no one.

Interesting. Chaney thanked the student and moved into the halls, still watching for any sign of a stalker. Hey - she was a feild agent. It was a habit.

She followed Warren's directions and walked in on a test for the freshmen, whose coach was trying to discover useful abilities. She nearly walked right back out, but the posing quarterback-type on the center stage was one of those sights that are so horrifying you can't look away.

What the _hell _was he doing? Were those…ice cream cones he was making?

"That's your power?" The coach asked, in what sounded like an incredulous voice.

The posing looker—roughly 5'10" (Chaney's height), probably not finished growing yet, and built with muscle to spare—didn't hear the tone. He just grinned at the girls in the audience, and tossed one of them an ice cream cone. Chaney grimaced. He was good looking, but not _that_ good looking.

The Coach sighed and called for the test. A giant fist came down from the ceiling, and the guy froze himself. He turned into a crystal man and then reached up to catch the giant fist.

He broke. Into a thousand crystallized pieces. Chaney had to work to keep the laughter repressed as the coach assigned him to sidekick class.

Next up was a real winner. He was a four-foot tall midget who could lift four hundred pounds and perform numerous calisthenics. The midget was assigned to the superhero class—making Chaney groan (if this was the standard of superheroes, how on earth was the world staying saved?).

She didn't pay attention to the next three. She had some vague impression of metal and then the ability to screech loud enough to break glass. Or something like that. It wasn't until a pitiful pyro kinetic wannabe stepped up that she gave any notice. But…he was pathetic. He could basically smoke, and that was it. Nothing like the abilities her target was developing.

"Chaney Chai." The coach bellowed then. He was getting irritated at the lack of skill. Or at least, Chaney was, and she assumed that was his problem too.

She raised her hand. "Here."

He waved her up. "Well hurry up, _princess._" He sneered. "We don't have all day."

She hopped up on stage and waited.

"What's your power?" He demanded gruffly, which irritated her.

Good question. How to boil it down to something they wouldn't freak out at?

She shrugged finally. "Telekinetics," she said, and decided to show them. With a thought, a large steel rod that was as long as she was tall came flying at her from the back of the room. Her audience gasped and ducked as it swooped lower than was strictly necessary. Chaney didn't reach out for it, but set it down next to her foot and tilted it so that it was standing alone, mid-air, titled to one side as though she were holding it. Her hands, however were tucked into her folded arms. The audience oohhed and ahhed, and she had to fight the urge to show off.

The Coach was scowling at her now. "Fine. Your grades from the previous school are good enough for a last-year transfer, but normal grades don't count for much at Sky High." He looked up at her, his face a mask of irritation. "So, Princess Butternut, I guess you're just going to have to prove you have enough control and experience with your powers to get out of the first three years. But I don't go easy, so I'll give you a choice. Enter freshman year now, or take the test and probably fail it. Your choice."

Chaney grinned. Maybe she'd only show off just a teeny little bit.

She picked up her steel rod and with another thought started warping it. The sound of screeching, groaning metal filled the room and everyone covered their ears and squinted their eyes against the offensive sound. Most of them didn't see the shape Chaney was making until she dropped the steel rod at Coach Boom's feet, tied in a pretty little bow.

"I'll take the test." Chaney said.

The fist came down again, and from somewhere to the right a cannon fired. To the left, a wall of flame suddenly rushed forward, eager to engulf her. From somewhere else, a truck was hurled at her.

…That was it? This was her senior year test? Chaney felt a little crestfallen. The standards had really fallen.

The audience ducked to avoid all the danger. Several gasps escaped everyone, and a few of the girls screamed. The coach stood looking smug—though his grin faded when the truck whipped around and changed its path. It slammed into the fist, shattering the huge tool, and then upended itself to block her from the fire. The cannonball stopped inches from her head and hung, suspended and still.

"Senior Hero." Coach Boom ground out, and Chaney smiled before she skipped down the steps.

"Yes sir." She headed out the door to go get her schedule.

The hall was crowded. Students were milling through like a herd of mindless cattle, mooing and bumping together. Chaney grimaced inwardly, and ventured out into it.

She had only gone a few feet though, when the touch of a passing student sent a chill down her back.

Now, Chaney did not like being touched. Childhood scars…social indelicacy, personality flaw…whatever it was, she did not like being touched. In the crowd, there were dozens of students pressing past her in a hurry. There was little opportunity to take in faces before one person was gone and another person filled that place. Chaney was either brushed past or shoved out of the way. She watched the people that passed her, trying to guess if there were others here like her, but when she felt that other shoulder brush hers, she whirled. A hand had trailed down her side and over her hip, but in among the masses it was impossible to see who had done it.

She had a feeling it wasn't just some jock looking for a grope either. Who else was covering this place? She was going to have to be more careful.

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A/N - Oh yeah, I guess I should warn you that this is going to be a long story. If you eventually get attached, let me know. It may make a difference.


	2. Meeting the gang

A/N - Thanks for the review nomanslandvicki! I appreciate the compliment & would really REALLY love you guys if the rest of you gave me some feedback. Praise, flames, constructive crit. Anything. ; )

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Chapter 2

Classes were dull. Lunch was pure chaos. She had to restrain herself from ducking out of the lunchroom—she wasn't a fan of large crowds—but then she caught sight of the "villain's" table, and smiled.

Maybe she could pass the time and make a nuisance of herself. Her motto was that the only true joy in life was mischief.

The "villain's" table was really just a bunch of delinquents, it looked like. All dressed for the title, complete with a variety of black themes from coal to dark grey. Nose rings abounded, along with eyebrow rings, died hair, and half-shredded clothing.

Really. The lengths kids go to in order to look cool.

Funny that she liked it.

"Mind if I sit here?" She asked the table in general, and didn't wait for a reply before putting her tray down. They took one look at her white blouse, esoteric, fair-skinned, non-pierced, "pretty" features, dress slacks, and long, straight, _healthy_ black hair (non-highlighted and never touched by hair dryer, crimper, curling iron, or unreasonably expensive chemicals), and one guy slammed his fist down on the last spot in the table.

"There's no room," he said in that typical, growling voice that bullies were expected to have.

Chaney smiled inwardly. What they had missed in their initial perusal was the shark-tooth necklace, the plain black stone ring around her left middle finger—which, despite its bland look, was significant—the fact that her dress slacks were black, and the military-issue combat boots on her feet. Oh, and she _was_ pierced. Her right ear had one small diamond earring, and her left had a matching one just above a black metallic loop that was crafted in the shape of a wicked-looking thorn.

"There was before your sorry ass claimed it." She said sweetly, and suddenly the bench flew upwards, upending them on the floor. It settled back in place gently, and she sat down.

"What the hell was that?" The kid who had denied her a seat jumped to his feet, his striped arms spread wide. The second, a fat boy with annoying little eyes, got to his feet too and turned to face her.

"Dumbass. They're seniors." One of the villains said, and another voice hurried to intervene.

"Yeah and _she's_ one of the newbies that just tested into Senior year, dumbass." Chaney glanced aside to see who was speaking, and noted the face. It was an American girl with painted black lips, blood red irises, and bright pink hair cut to fly across her head in a Japanese rock-band style. The girl gave Chaney a sly, provocative smile—one that promised willing collaboration and a fellow mischief-maker—and flashed her a low, intense gaze beneath long black lashes. Chaney's grin widened. Well…already she'd found a minion.

She'd be "taking over the world" in no time flat. If that were what she was aiming for.

With that new knowledge to lift her mood, Chaney turned back to the two boys.

The fat boy had been waiting for her attention to come back to him, and she sighed. Why did all petty, wannabe villains follow that idiot, unwritten rule? He smiled when she met his gaze.

"Get her Speed," said the guy with stripes, and the fat kid lunged forward…

…and disappeared.

Everyone held their breath, expecting Chaney to go flying. Instead, as the boys blurring form zoomed in circles around the tables—really, why the hell didn't he just attack?—a sweet, anxious voice rose up.

"Please don't fight! We can all work this out if we just talk!"

Chaney turned her head to take in Layla and a not-so-great looking boy right behind her, standing like a muscle-builder…except without the muscles. Or the charm.

Magenta was standing behind the kid, with the nearly-albino boy from earlier standing at her elbow. There was a wimpy looking kid next to the no-muscles boy, and Chaney grimaced inwardly as she looked at them.

What kind of sorry institution was this??

The fat boy lunged for her then, and tripped to go flying to the other side of the room, his pants having mysteriously fallen down around his ankles.

The room fell silent.

"Is he wearing tighty whiteys?" Someone asked, and then the whole room burst into laughter. Chaney smiled.

She loved to be naughty.

Stripes turned to sneer at her.

"You're gonna pay for this, just you wait!" Chaney said in unison with him. He fumed, and she grinned back with a shrug.

"All I wanted was a seat."

"Hey, back down buddy," said another voice as a hand dropped down onto her hip. "Everything's okay. I got you covered babe."

Stripes had stilled since the increase in attention, and Chaney stiffened. Her gaze dropped to the hand on her hip.

"I don't like to be touched," she warned, and the hand dropped, the venom in her tone evident even to Stripes.

"What's going on now?" Asked another voice, and this one caught Chaney's attention. The quarterback's was deeper, but this one was a nice shade of rich, deep, masculine sound. Better yet, it was familiar.

She peeked around Quarterback's ear. A familiar, lean figure was standing behind the Quarterback blond, and what was even better than his sudden appearance was the look in his eyes. Dark, slightly brooding, short temper, mean streak—a hatred of jockey-types…oh yes, it was all there.

Warren had shown up, like the knight in shining armor he wasn't.

"Who're you?" Quarterback dude asked indignantly. He had evidently noted Warren's good looks and recognized him as competition. Sparks flew between gazes—one hothead hating the other hothead's stereotypical guts.

"I could ask you the same question. The Principal's on her way." Warren said, and Chaney felt a definite tug on her feminine affections as he came to tower over the quarterback. Quarterback stepped away, making the bodily proximity far easier for Chaney to handle.

He wasn't there to save her…but what the hell? As long as she benefited from his aversion to jocks.

"Not on her way. Here," said yet another voice, and the whole group turned to look at Principal…what was her name? Chaney had gotten attached to "Powerpuff" and couldn't remember the real one.

"Principal Powers." No-muscles stepped up next to Layla.

"Will!" Layla whispered in warning, but the guy was already talking.

"It wasn't her fault. We all saw Speed trip over his own feet."

"But who started the fight?" Principal Powers asked. Several of the kids at the villain's table immediately pointed at Chaney.

"Miss Chai, I'll see you in detention in an hour." Powers said, and then shifted her gaze to Warren. "I trust you didn't have anything to do with this, Mr. Peace?"

"He did threaten me." Quarterback interjected, and Warren shot him a withering, menacing glare.

That gaze could probably burn a hole through steel.

"Mr. Peace, you can join Miss Chai in detention."

Hehehe. Who ever said being bad never paid off?

The Principal left then and Quarterback—he said his name was Tyler as he passed by Chaney—drifted away to another table. The lunchroom quickly reverted to normal. Plus or minus a few gossiping whispers.

The villains vacated the table—except for the pink-haired girl, and the gang that had just stepped in to play peacemakers gathered around to sit.

"Don't worry about them. They like to pick fights with everybody." Layla said as she chose a place next to Will, who had plopped down near the other end of the table. Magenta sat next to Chaney, and albino-boy next to her. The wimpy kid slid in next to Layla, followed by a colored guy who looked half-way impressive and who extended a hand for Chaney to shake. Introductions were made, and Warren slid into the last available spot. Next to Chaney.

"He's Warren Peace." Magenta was saying as she leaned around Chaney and gave Warren a tap on the shoulder. "Where the heck have you been? You're always late!"

He shrugged. "Around."

Magenta rolled her eyes, and Albino boy (was that one Zach or Ethan? Chaney couldn't remember) grinned at her. Chaney looked around the table. "What's your name?" She asked the pink-haired girl.

The girl cocked her head and glanced at Warren. "Sheila." She said as her gaze slid down his shirt front and then switched the same hungry gaze to size up Chaney. "What's yours?"

"Chaney Chai."

The small, half-cocked smirk on her face stretched a little farther. "What's your power?"

Chaney reached out and with a snap of her wrist shifted Sheila's drink out of her glass. She twirled it around Sheila's head, away to Layla and Will, glow-boy, wimpy kid, Magenta and finally Warren, where it molded into horns and settled around his head.

"You manipulate liquids?" Layla asked.

"Among other things." Chaney returned the drink to Sheila's cup, and raised her eyes to meet Sheila's appreciative gaze across the table.

"What about all of you?" She asked.

They went around the table, Layla's talent with plants named, and Will's super strength and flying ability, glow boys glowing ability, Magenta's shape-shifting, and the wimpy kid's ability to melt into a puddle. Sheila shrugged when Chaney's gaze shifted back to her.

"What would the world be like without a little myster?" She asked, and Chaney shrugged before pointing her fork at the pink-haired girl.

"If there's one thing I'm better at than keeping a secret, it's figuring out other people's," she said.

Sheila smiled. "I hope so. And by the way, Warren hasn't told you his yet." Sheila pointed out.

Chaney grinned her thanks at the girl and turned to look up at Warren. Tall as she was, he was taller than her. Even sitting down.

He shrugged. "Fire," was all he said.

"Aw, Warren. Show her." Will and Layla echoed each other, and Warren looked down at Chaney briefly before raising a hand. A flame sprang into being in the palm of his hand, and Chaney smiled. Technically, she'd already seen it, but to see it so closely…the flames just seemed to gather from nowhere and wrap themselves around each other in the palm of his hand. They hovered above the skin, looking like a writhing mass of pulsing hot, golden red cloth.

And then, from the bottom of the little ball of fire, a blue flame leapt up to swallow half the ball. Chaney spotted a brief flash of white right before Warren groaned and snapped his hand away to tuck it beneath the table.

Chaney was quite certain he had just burned himself again.

"Mmm. Sweet powers," she said thoughtfully.

Warren nodded, and Will jumped back into the conversation.

"I've never seen you make a blue flame before, Warren," the brown haired boy said, and Warren flashed him a glare as Chaney tactfully turned to her meal of pizza and brown-ish looking salad.

She scraped the salad to the side of the tray.

"What about you Chaney? Which class are you in?" Layla asked.

Chaney looked back around the table. "I just tested in to the Senior year Heroes."

"Wow!" Layla exclaimed, her soft brown eyes nearly jumping out of her head in excitement. "That is so cool! We're seniors! We'll be in the same classes!"

"Do you live off grounds?" Magenta asked.

Chaney shook her head and reached into a pocket for her room key. She looked down at the number. "I don't have a place to stay off grounds. I'm an orphan, so they made an exception to their rules and let me stay in dorm room 307." She looked back up.

"Room 307?" Sheila had perked up.

Chaney nodded, and watched as a sly smile crept over Sheila's face. "That's my room." She said.

Well. Her first Sky High minion, sharing her room. Chaney nodded with a smile. "Cool."

Chaney plopped into the detention chair with a sigh of relief. Ahhhh…peaceful…welcome silence. She tipped her head back to look up at the ceiling and shut her eyes.

She was almost asleep when the door slammed open and Warren walked in. Powers was prodding him from behind—hey, did those eyes just drop? She was old enough to be his mother!—and Warren looked pissed. He still had one hand tucked in a pocket so no one could see the damage he was doing himself, but in the other hand he held a book.

Yes, a book.

Chaney crossed her arms as she watched them come in—and yes, those old eyes of Powers did drop…repeatedly—and noticed also that no one else was coming with them.

"Now, behave yourselves, children," Powers said, and looked at Chaney. "Miss Chai, I believe you are new here. Just to let you know, this room does not allow power use, so don't plan on levitating yourself out of here."

Chaney nodded. "M'kay."

With that, and a few parting words that both of them tuned out, PowerPUFF left.

Chaney tilted her head back again and tucked her hands behind her head. She shut her eyes. "You come here often?"

"Favorite room in the whole school," came the reply.

"Especially lately, I'm sure." Chaney said, and she knew he caught on to what she was saying, because there was silence for a while.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

But she'd hit the nerve already. The damage was done. She smiled inwardly.

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A/N I've got several more chapters written, but I'm going to release them only if I get some responses for the story. I'm not really begging for love and adoration : P, I'm just not sure whether there's enough interest.


	3. Stalking

It was three days before Chaney saw Warren again. She'd found out where he worked, and now she was sitting on a car in a parking lot outside some kind of Asian restaurant. His shift was nearly over.

She trailed a finger over her lower lip as she watched him through the window.

He didn't look like an S mission.

Warren Peace was one of the exceptions to Sky High's low-rate students. He was the son of a superhero and a villain, and he'd acquired more skills than he should have. Probably more skills than anyone was aware of. Including him. He had been held in a testing facility for highly dangerous supers when he was a kid, but let out when he didn't present the kind of risk he had been thought to. He hadn't scored high enough on the power meter or something stupid like that.

The deal was that in the psychotic bad-lady's attack on the school three years before—which was really a joke on the true villains of the world—Warren had shown, just for a moment, the kind of potential he had been thought to have as a child. He had stabled out after that, but lately he was showing some signs of radical power development. His abilities had been late developers, but now they were finally starting to mature.

He _still _didn't look like an S mission, she thought.

She was a field agent in the Super's version of the CIA and the FBI, and whatever other initials were needed. They monitored the supers in the world—the dangerous ones—on the good side and the bad side, and made sure things were kept peaceful. Major wars were fought in secret, or were erased from people's minds. There was no just sitting around individually, waiting for the villains to launch an attack and kill someone so some short-sighted idiot could go save the day.

Huh uh. The Underground supers were a highly organized society of the most powerful supers—and the most intelligent, since keeping huge powers to a minimum was difficult.

Chaney watched him come out of the restaurant. He locked up, and turned into the cold. This year was going to be a real freezer, but he hardly seemed to notice. All he wore against the cold was his usual light jacket—in dark colors, of course—and he even had his hair pulled back. He also looked oh-so-edible. Why? He just did. Probably the height plus the lean body plus the leather jacket plus the way his legs ate up the ground in lazy, smooth strides.

Chaney leaned against the building she was standing beside and crossed her arms. He moved the same way every other human being did—one foot in front of the other. There wasn't anything especially unique about how he did it, but every now and then she would get the impression that his bad-boy punk look was just a cover. For what, Chaney wasn't sure yet, but he looked smarter than the average delinquent, and more aware of his surroundings. He seemed almost _too _relaxed and indifferent to make the punk attitude and the…whatever else mix well.

The report had said that Warren Peace used to score at the top of the tests when he was a child. He had a skill for languages, a highly competitive streak and a strong mind. He'd been cunning then. Not just a bully. Now…

Chaney watched him cross the yard. She remembered the training the labs put the danger kids through. If he was lean now, it was because it had all started then. Being a lab rat stunk, but it had its advantages. And it was hard to forget that kind of training, she thought, even when your memory had been wiped clean, but if he still remembered after…what, seven years? Maybe he _did_ still pose a threat. Even if he didn't yet know it himself.

That was what she was here for.

In the evening light, the shadows nearly covered half his face, leaving the other half just barely visible in the dim light. With a soft sigh, she stepped forward and followed as he walked down the road.

Yes, she was stalking Warren Peace. She shook her head at herself. Even though it was a job…her dignity was taking a major pounding because she found she didn't really mind the excuse.

_Sucker._ She told herself, and shrugged. Oh well.

She shifted to one side of him so he wouldn't feel tailed, and drifted along as she watched his face in the night.

He knew someone was out there.

She smiled to herself and watched his face in the light of the street lamps. They made his dark brown eyes look almost sinister, and it made his lips…look…

Chaney shook her head at herself. When she wasn't either in training or on a mission, she was something of an artist. She people-watched a lot and had a habit of noting features, and her hands could reproduce what she saw detail for detail. Her power worked on anything she could see or visualize in her mind, so she emphasized observation and depth-perception.

So. When looking at anyone who happened to be somewhat gorgeous…well…it made the evening feel a lot warmer than it would have otherwise.

He had arrived at his little bitty apartment. He went in, and Chaney waited. For three whole freakin' hours. And it was cold out, and that little burst of warmth didn't last long.

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A/N - A very short chapter, in the hopes that I can tempt you all into responding. If there's no response, I'm going to assume nobody's interested in this story & won't post anymore. I'll just keep all the tasty goodness for myself (btw, the plot really pick up from here on out)


	4. On the Job

A/N - My appologies to those who read this chapter before I fixed it. I actually forgot to take the last chapter's contents out of this one...I'm SO SORRY!! It's fixed now. Hope you enjoy.

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His apartment was tiny, but at least it was semi-clean. It looked like its owner actually made an effort.

After she had unlocked and opened the door with a thought, Chaney looked around and noted the cheap furniture, and the lack of ceiling lights. The lamps that were scattered around looked like they were the only source of light he had.

She pulled out the mini camera she'd been given and started snapping pictures. She walked around, but there wasn't much to snoop around in. A pile of clothes, a stack of books—which were, surprise, surprise, either classics, language books, or general heavy reading—a dilapidated folding table that looked like it had seen better days, the lamps, a kitchen with little food and even fewer utensils in it. There was no stove, and a tiny fridge (he probably heated all his food himself), but there was a new microwave oven. Hmm. Possibly because his powers were getting too unpredictable to use lately? The bathroom looked old, though almost untouched besides a towel laying on the floor. She tried not to think about where it had been and cleared her throat as she looked up at the sink. There was a toothbrush sitting by the sink, alongside a pack of cigarettes.

Only place left…was the bedroom. Chaney took a deep breath, gathering her concentration, and entered the room as she willed its occupant to remain asleep. She snuck in, and started looking through the drawers of his dresser. Nothing much there besides a few clothes. On top of it was a large collection of rocks. The holes in them indicated their volcanic origin, and Chaney snapped a few pictures. There were a few tourist fliers with pictures of volcanoes tucked into the mirror's backing, and a book on astrology—the study of the stars, not the religion—sat on a stack of science fiction books.

Well, they were sort-of science fiction. Some of them were theory-based documentaries on dragons and other fire-breathing creatures. One was a historical book based on the many uses fire had had in the past.

So. The bad boy was something of a scholar. And he liked the subject of fire. Go figure. She snapped a few pictures.

Chaney glanced around again. There was very little décor, but what was there fit his theme: black and red…and lots of fire. Her gaze fell on her sleeping host finally—something she had been avoiding for a reason.

She glanced at the floor. Yeah, that had been his t-shirt and jacket.

Chaney took a deep breath and noted a definite slip in her concentration. He started to stir (and when a guy with his build starts shifting, it is almost painful for a girl to watch), and Chaney had to grab for the edges of her control.

"Shhh," she told him as she crept near and willed him to rest. "There's nothing here. It's safe, and you're so very tired. It's been a long day. Sleep."

He settled, and she fell to trying to still her thumping heart. Her eyes trailed over him, from baggy pants that settled nicely around…trim hips to abs that could be used for a TV ad (yes, the oft-sought after _washboard_ type) to a chest that was built juuuuuuust right. His shoulders curved down from hard muscle at the base of his neck, and his hair trailed down over his collarbone.

Soft flesh, hard muscle.

Oh shit. She bit her lip. Damn…it was painful to look.

Then her eyes landed on the lips…

Guys and girls alike had lips in such a huge variety of tips and turns, quirks and bulges. She should know…lips were the second feature she looked at when first meeting a person. There were very, very few who had that full, evenly distributed, deceptively firm look.

Niiiiiiiiiiice.

She raised her camera then and snapped a picture. Hey, it wouldn't hurt to keep just _one_ for her personal files, right?

She snuck back outside then, before her imagination could run away with her—too late—and quickly rewound the film and replaced it with a blank one. Just in case.

When she got back up to the school, Chaney snuck back into her dorm room—she just turned the security cameras away with a thought, unlocked her door with another thought, and snuck in on silent feet…

Only to have the desk lamp on Sheila's side of the room snap on as she was pulling off her jacket.

"Where have you been?" Sheila asked from her position on her hanging cloth chair. She had one leg pulled up to her chest, with an elbow draped across it and her face leaning on her fist. Her gaze bored into Chaney, the intensity in their depths accusing.

Chaney shrugged and pulled her shirt off to put on a huge t-shirt to sleep in. "I had things to take care of." She kicked off her pants and dropped down on the bed. Hey, she might be a secret agent, but she was just a teenager. Comfort came before dignity.

"Mmm," Sheila said as she watched Chaney. "Right. You're not allowed out after ten." Sheila glanced at the clock obviously. It was after one.

"Are you going to make me keep the rules?" Chaney pulled her arms into the t-shirt and unhooked her bra before pulling it back out and tossing it to the ground. Sheila watched it drop…and licked her lips.

"No, but if we're going to be roommates, I'd appreciate honesty. I'm only in with the villains group cause I don't care to keep all the rules either."

Chaney turned to face her and thought about it. She bit her lip, looking around at Sheila's decorations.

The decorations in a person's room said a lot about them. Sheila's side of the room had a lot of goth themes. Kind of like Warren, she had some oriental symbols, but mostly there were bats and crosses and a few skulls. Several books on vampires sat up on an almost empty shelf, and red and pink dominated the scene.

Blood red, and pink…like a newborn baby's cheeks. Flesh & blood? Vampires? Was Sheila a Vampire of sorts? Or just a fan of the myths?

"Before I answer that, could you tell me what your power is Sheila?"

Sheila shrugged. "I can control, manipulate, and reproduce blood and re-knit torn flesh. I'm not quite a healer, but I'm damn near indestructible."

Chaney nodded. That could be useful.

"Your turn." Sheila said. "I'd appreciate it if you'd clarify your power, because I didn't know it included getting yourself to and from school."

Chaney grinned. She looked around the room again, memorizing every detail, and every object. "I have to see it first, and when my eyes fail me, sometimes I can see with my hands." She reached out for a small figurine she had sitting on her side of the room. It was one of her only decorations (hey, she didn't own enough to decorate with) but it was something she had made. She knew the features as well as she knew her own. She'd made the small sculpture of her father just before he died, and everything about the figurine was exact. If it had been real, she would know where every bone indentation was beneath the suit. She remembered the feel of the suit he wore from when she was three. She remembered what he felt like when she hugged him. She remembered where his heart was, when she had leaned her head against his chest and heard it beating. She had studied a lot of biology in her time, and she knew where every vein, every artery, organ, bone, and sinew grew in his body. She had memorized everything, and the figurine mirrored that ability.

Chaney ran her fingers over the tiny features, and heard Sheila gasp. Chaney smiled, and reached up to run her fingers through her black hair, pushing it back from her face as she looked up. Every object in the room was hovering several inches above where it had been sitting moments before. With a thought, Chaney sent them all whirling through the room, and Sheila ducked. The mass of movement drained her fast though. The amount of control and concentration it took started a headache raging in her mind, and Chaney narrowed her eyebrows against the pain as she carefully kept every object separate in her conscious. Her concentration slipped once, and a tiny mirror hit the wall and crashed. Time to stop showing off then. A moment later, Chaney realigned them in their old positions, halted the movement, and set them back down.

"I have to see it and be aware of its shape, duties, and exact location to be able to manipulate it, but I can move and manipulate anything with a molecular foundation." Chaney said softly. "Liquid is more difficult, because it doesn't have a specific shape and the molecules will just go all over the place if you're not careful." There was a glass of water at Sheila's elbow, and Chaney lifted the liquid out of the glass and manipulated it into a shape like Sheila. She changed it again to look like a cat, then a dragon, and then fire—complete with crackling movement—and then Warren. Then she quickly dropped it back into the glass.

Sheila was staring at her glass, thoughtfully. "I study Biology a lot, too, because of my gift. For me, the flesh and blood of other beings answers to mine, so I can control and manipulate it. How does your power work?"

Chaney shrugged. "I have to study molecular structure a lot. It's hard to visualize millions of molecules and even harder to direct their pattern, but that's how I can change things." She took her little statue then and levitated it before turning it into a puddle of goo that separated like milk in nul-gravity. She pulled it back together, reshaped it, and handed the rock-solid object over to Sheila as stars swam through before her eyes. Chaney propped herself up against the headboard, feeling tired.

She wanted Sheila to understand though, because Chaney had a plan that was going to require the girl's aid. She wouldn't tell her everything…but for now, this explanation would do just fine.

Sheila's eyebrows had raised. "I'm impressed. How big can you go?"

Chaney grinned. "Size doesn't matter. Numbers do. It takes way too much concentration to keep every object on an exact path, and it drains me like nothing you can imagine. In fact, I'm feeling a headache coming on. I need to go to bed soon."

"You still haven't told me why you were gone."

Chaney grinned. "I may tell you eventually. You're just going to have to be satisfied with this for now."

Sheila shook her head. "You'd better not forget."

Chaney shrugged. "Promise. Good night." She slipped under the covers then, pulled them up to her chin, rolled onto her side—military brat or no, they had never been able to tame her sleeping posture—and turned over. A few minutes later, the desk lamp clicked off.

She sighed. "Sheila?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I count on you? You know, like a friend?"

Sheila chuckled in the darkness. "Sure."

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A/N - So, what do you think? I've been building up to the action, so I hope you haven't gotten bored with me.


	5. Caught? Or not?

The next morning found Chaney heading to the school's track field to work out. Her body had never been a major asset on her missions—she was too tall and too slim to look like she could lift anything heavier than her school bag (in her opinion), but she worked out anyway.

The track field was on another hovering platform similar to Sky High's school, so she was heading for the portal door to get to it when she started to feel a presence behind her. She turned around, but there was no one there. She reached out to open the portal, but no sooner had it opened just a hair than someone's hand reached out and slammed it shut.

The arm had come from over her shoulder, which meant that it was someone tall. She looked back…and up…as Warren Peace bent to inhale the scent on her neck.

Oh shit.

"I thought so," he said as he straightened again.

Oh shit.

He looked her in the eye. "I thought someone was following me last night, and then I wake up in the middle of the night to smell some kinda cocoanut perfume all over my apartment."

Oh shit. She ducked out from under his arm. Technically, agents weren't supposed to wear any kind of scent for just this reason…but she'd done it anyway because deodorant messed with her skin and it was only supposed to be for school. She'd always known that particular trait was going to come back and bite her in the ass. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I wear a scent called Vanilla Chai and I was here in the dorms last night, talking with Sheila."

He crossed his arms and glared. "Yeah right. I know what I can smell, and that's the same scent I found last night. How the hell did you get down there, why the hell were you tailing me, and how the hell did you get back?"

Um…how was she going to play this? Gangly ditz with a crush? Seductress looking for a good lay? Yeah right, like she could pull that one off in this situation …Um…"Would you believe I got lost?"

He glared. She could almost feel the fury rolling off him. No wait, she could. He was actually _heating up the room_. Hehe. Heating up the room. "Nice try. I didn't figure you for a spaz. Or a stalker."

She waved her hand at him. "Okay, okay. Turn down the heat. A girl can only take so much pressure." If she were a normal teenager who hadn't trained herself to keep a straight face, she would have plastered a goofy grin on her features. That sounded so wrong…

He glared for a moment later, then walked back up to her. "Stay out of my home, and don't let me catch you following me ever again."

She met the challenge in his gaze with one of her own. "Or what?"

No, she couldn't help goading people. It was a part of her personality.

And no, it wasn't because of her personality that she was one of the company's best agents. When they found kids her age with her abilities, they had to occasionally settle for idiots who didn't always play according to the rules…or lay low when they should have.

Suddenly, her feet flew out from under her, and her head hit the floor with an audible smack. Stars sprang up in front of her eyes, but that didn't impede her ability to see the flames roaring to life on the hand held just in front of her face. She felt her eyebrows getting singed, and she swallowed, expecting her life to end then and there. The hand came no closer though. When she looked up, the fury in his face intensified, conflicting with self-restraint (since when was that something he'd picked up?), and he pulled away.

"Next time, it won't be a warning." He said, and left.

Chaney lay still for a moment, staring at the ceiling. She hadn't even seen him move.

She sat up—despite the spinning in her head—and turned to watch him leave. He was a lot different than he had been all those years ago. The guy she had had a crush on since childhood was a lot tougher, a lot meaner, and the mask he had acquired back then had settled in so deep that she wasn't even sure who he was anymore. He hadn't acted this crabby since…well, before he met the Dream Team. Could it be the way his powers were acting up lately, or had he really changed so much?

It was a good thing she wasn't a very emotional girl, or she would have been seriously depressed right then. Wait. She _was_ depressed.

The ring on her finger began to vibrate then, and she stood to duck through the portal and into the gym. Once inside, she glanced around to make sure no one was nearby, and then squeezed the sides of the ring.

A hologram sprang up to hover in front of her face, and she frowned.

She was going to have a lot of stress to work out after this.

"Don't look so pleased to see me, Perao," said the face in her hologram. The aged, pudgy face of her mission commander flashed a stern look as he gave her field name.

"Sorry sir." She gave no excuses. In the military, it doesn't matter what may have influenced your actions. Your actions were what mattered (and the higher ups didn't like a sour face because it indicated whiny/wimpy agent).

He frowned. "Fine. Listen, the upgrades you installed on the first day are picking up some interesting readings."

"How bad is it?"

"His power levels are as erratic as a woman's mood swings. I'm not sure what triggered this, and I want you to find out. I also want you to get closer to him and watch him. Carefully." That was going to be a little difficult…considering he had just tried to kill her…

Her more pressing thought though, was that Chaney suspected there was something more.

"Because of the power levels, or is there another reason?"

"…There's been a leak in the agency." Her commander's pudgy face twisted into a cold, angry scowl, and Chaney felt her heart ground to a halt. A leak involving information about Warren meant…

"So they're going after him." She breathed. SIN was an Underground organization for supers, but it was by no means wholly devoted to superheroes. No organization could exist without corruption in the ranks, and many of said corrupting ranks were part of SIN's darker half. Duh, the villains.

And villains like power. Especially kids who were powerful enough to be considered a threat by SIN.

"There are some powerful kids in that school, according to the power gauges." Her commander was saying. "We haven't just been monitoring Peace due to the risk factor the other students stand to pose. There are several that we've been unable to tag who are not showing half of their full potential. Perao, my guess is that there is at least one person in that school who is after him. Perhaps more."

Chaney had already come to that conclusion, and she didn't like it.

"I want you to locate and cripple this kid, and I want to get a better analysis of Peace's potential by Friday. Keep an eye on him, and report back when you've thought of a way to do all this."

Chaney sighed and reached up to pinch her nose bridge. So. Some bad people had gotten wind of Warren's danger rating and would be targeting him soon. The commander wanted an accurate assessment of Warren's abilities by the end of the week (it was already Wednesday), and Chaney needed to find out if there was anyone after him:

So in other words, she needed to fight both him and the dark agent in an all-out bout that would probably get her killed. "I already know just how to do it, but I may need some backing from you guys."

She was going to demand a bonus for this job.

So, she tended to get smelly. People did that after a good workout. Chaney was making her way to the showers when Sophie Freeze walked past.

Sophie Freeze—as in, the girl who was presently sort-of dating Warren.

"Oh my Gawd! Where is that _stench _coming from?" She screeched as she passed Chaney. She turned to look Chaney up and down with a look of disgust on her face.

Great. Just what Chaney needed right then. To be chewed out by the boyfriend and then his girl. Chaney flashed the birdie at her and kept walking. At the agency, she was known for her ego, not her temper. Give her a chance to show what she could do, and she was hard pressed to turn it down. Face her with a bitch that wasn't worth the effort, and she walked away. The opinion of jackasses did not rate high enough to bother with.

Sophie snorted in disdain behind Chaney's back. "No wonder the guys have been dissing her." She told the girl with her. "That is SO disgusting. I bet Warren would dump me if I ever showed smelling like that…and _looking_ like that. She's covered in _sweat._"

Chaney grinned. Sophie Freeze had just presented her with the perfect opportunity. Chaney glanced back with a wicked, beaming grin. "Actually, Warren didn't seem to mind the sweat."

There. The gauntlet was tossed. Chaney's eyes trailed down Sophie's body, and she snorted. Sophie's jaw had hit the ground, and Chaney was walking into the women's bathroom, where she had planned to take her shower and get cleaned up.

Now, however, she was waiting for an attack to close in from behind.

The icicle hit the wall beside her head as Chaney sidestepped the attack.

"How _dare_ you?!" Sophie screamed, and her hands froze, and the floor froze all the way up to Chaney's feet. Chaney turned to face the threat.

An icicle came flying out of nowhere then, and Chaney felt her body get pinned to the wall. Her vision exploded with flashing lights for the second time that day as white hot pain shot through her body, and she glanced down at the icicle impaling her shoulder.

Bitch. That hurt. Chaney looked up, shooting a murderous glare Sophie's way. All right. It had started out as work. Now it was personal.

"You want me to spay you bitch?" Chaney snarled, and reached out a hand to direct her scattering thoughts…

Powers showed up then, and Chaney dropped her hand as the Principal took in the scene.

"What is going on?" The principal asked.

Sophie's sneer had already turned into a victimized look of fear. "She attacked me and I had to defend myself." Several students had been attracted by her attack, and had drifted over to find out what was going on. Several gasps went up—and even a couple screeches—when Chaney was noted.

Chaney spat blood as her head began swimming. She did not deal well with blood loss. She had a low iron count and was slightly anemic. Meaning for her, blood loss was bad.

But there was work to do. She had to goad Sophie. She needed this opportunity. "Coward. You think you outrank everyone else." Chaney sneered, and then noticed that a certain dark-clad figure had turned up behind Sophie. Chaney smiled as her blood dripped down her chest. Fortunately, there wasn't much of it. The plus side to getting impaled by an icicle was that the blood froze before you could lose much of it. Her nerves were freezing too, so Chaney left the icicle where it was. It didn't hurt as bad that way…but it was freezing her. She felt the cold creeping up her neck. Her brain felt like it was either on fire or was turning into an ice block.

She had to keep thinking.

Sophie was sneering again. "Listen to the newbie talk. You got stuck there because you couldn't even deflect a little icicle." She stepped forward, but Principal Powers intervened.

"Miss Freeze, Miss Chai, please calm down."

"Hell no." Chaney shook her head, and the movement nearly made her hurl. She swallowed back bile. "She wants to know what I'm made of. I'd like to have the chance to show her. Her and her boyfriend over there." Chaney nodded at Warren, and Powers followed her gaze. Warren was glaring. At who, Chaney wasn't sure, but she was pretty sure it was her. She caught his gaze for a moment, and he looked away.

Maybe he had changed. Maybe he hadn't. But, what the hell. Why did she care? She had a job to do, and quite possibly a life to save. Maybe his…or maybe just hers.

"What do you suggest?" Powers knew what Chaney was about to say. The small crowd of students that had gathered to whisper and point all knew what she was about to say.

But she still had to say it, apparently. Chaney grinned. "I challenge Sophie Freeze and her oh-so-underrated boyfriend to a game of Save the Citizen."

"Who do you want to be paired with?" Powers asked.

"Sheila Shade." Chaney said, and she wobbled. "But before we do this, I suggest an upgrade to the game."

Powers narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What kind of upgrade?"

Please let her higher ups have already extended a little pressure in this area.

Chaney turned her eyes back to Powers. "Down at earthlevel there's a huge cave on the edge of the Pacific ocean that is riddled with volcanic crevices and geysers. I suggest that instead of setting two pairs of people against each other, we face these four people against every other Hero in the school. If only one team makes it through the cave's maze and past the other students, then that team gets to save the citizen by default. If both teams make it, or at least one person from both teams, then they fight each other and the winner has to save the citizen."

Power's eyes were lighting up. Apparently, she liked the idea of a whole 'nother level of gore.

"There is a certain benefactor that has been requesting an upgrade to the game." She looked thoughtful, then her expression hardened into decisiveness. She'd made her choice. "All right. We'll begin preparation."

Chaney's audience was going wild. She was starting to see double, but then, the icicle was melting.

Why was it melting already? Then she noticed a warm hand on her shoulder, and another one carefully wrapping its glowing, red-hot self around the icicle.

"It'll give you hypothermia if you leave it in," Warren's voice said, and she wondered where on earth he had learned such a big word. Weren't nerds the only ones who used the correct terms? She shuddered. Water started washing down her body in freezing rivulets, sending chills through her, but the hand on her shoulder was radiating heat into her body, keeping her from freezing.

"Is there a time limit?" Powers asked.

Chaney was fading, and barely noticed as a very bright pink head of hair closed in on her side. Another hand touched her chest where the gaping hole was being vacated.

"I need to begin closing her up _now._ Can you please leave the details for later?" Came Sheila's distant voice, and Chaney put a hand on her arm.

Geez. She was in pain, but she wasn't an invalid, for crying out loud.

"Forty minutes." She ground out. "And the Citizen has to be hung over the lava pit in the center of the caves." She risked a look at Warren again. As a pyrokinetic, he wouldn't be affected by the heat. He embodied heat. Sophie looked nervous, but if she was powerful enough, the heat wouldn't bother her either.

So. They would feel as though Chaney and Sheila were at a disadvantage. They probably wouldn't think about the physics of being stuck in a cave with a pressurized mix of sulfur and gaseous air. Sophie would run out of energy fast, and Warren would have to work hard to keep his fire under control. If he lost control, Chaney would be there. If not, he was doing way better than her bosses believed he was.

Sophie grinned. "We'll do it," she said, giving the exact reaction Chaney had expected.

Chaney smiled again, and then someone picked her up as she sagged against the wall, and she had the vaguest sensation of traveling down the halls underwater. She was upside-down, too, since her blood loss was sapping all her energy and she couldn't hold her head up. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw long dark hair traveling next to pink, but blackness was closing in on the edges of her vision.

Then she was laid down on a bed, and Chaney felt relief as she thought she could finally catch up on the sleep she'd missed the night before, but a moment later the blissful darkness was shot to pieces by a searing agony in her chest that spread all across her body.

Chaney arched up and screamed as the pain of her flesh re-knitting itself shot through her. Her nerve endings were coming alive again, and they knew that things were not all right in her body. The shut-down a body created when too much pain overcame the senses was overridden, and Chaney felt every agonizing moment.

"Hold her down," said a voice, and two hands clamped down on Chaney's shoulders. It felt like someone else sat down on her legs. Chaney reached up to grip the wrists of the person holding her down, and clamped her jaw down tight against the pain.

The forced repair on her cells was like tearing a cloth in two—well, a cloth with ingrained nerves. Her scream echoed through the room, and then when it was done, the searing white agony blinding her vision faded to black so quickly that she barely had a glimpse of Warren and Sheila's worried faces.

Oh well. Mission part #1 had been accomplished.

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A/N - Thanks for the encouragement so far! I'm curious though, what could I do better? Helpful hints? Flames? Someone one to bash me over the head with a club and shout "You NO GOOD!"?


	6. In The Cave

THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS!!!!! This is great! Encouragement is highly appreciated. Thank you especially, Krane and Dragon Rider Murtagh. I'm still preening ;P

I really hope you all continue to enjoy this story. Now on to Chapter 6!

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"This is SO unbelievable…" Magenta stated for the third time that morning. She tipped her head back to look up at the cave ceiling. They were in a small side cave that had been stocked with all the equipment that the game would need. It was hot, the whole room smelled like sulfur, and they were all wearing masks to keep out the noxious poisons in the air.

Chaney adjusted hers over her nose and mouth as she looked around.

The whole school had been buzzing about the upcoming match. None of the other Heroes were worried—they thought the four seniors would have a snowball's chance in hell at succeeding. But hell, it was bound to be interesting, right? Chaney was known all over school now…which was something that she wasn't sure about liking, but this was the best way to figure out exactly where Warren's abilities stood. Not to mention, this was the perfect opportunity for an agent to attack Warren—and thus a perfect opportunity for Chaney to whup some butt without getting in trouble for it.

Of course, suddenly being the popular kid was kinda fun. Even being swarmed wherever she went was kinda fun.

Chaney sighed and looked over at Sheila. Sheila was stretching around the armor that was being strapped on her. Her bones snapped a few times, and Chaney noted the look of calm on her face. She was glad to have someone to count on.

"Look. They were asking for it." Chaney said, and waved a hand at Magenta. "I don't see what the big deal is."

Magenta threw up her arms. "Not a big deal? You passed out from blood loss just yesterday! I would call that a big deal!"

Chaney smiled. "Why do you think I picked Sheila? She's got a good head on her shoulders, not to mention she's a biology addict."

Sheila grinned over, and Layla walked up behind Magenta, carrying Chaney's armor. "What does having a biology major have to do with anything?" Layla asked.

"Biology majors know how bodies work. They're more likely to optimize what healing abilities they might have." Chaney winked at Sheila, and Sheila grinned back.

"Too true," Sheila said with a shrug.

"You realize you'll be up against me too, right?" Will asked.

Chaney put her hand on his shoulder. "Don't hold back, okay? Do me that favor."

Will nodded, and the call came for all Heroes—except for the contestants—to take their positions in the caves. Chaney watched as Will picked up Layla and Magenta and flew out the huge opening on one side of the cave. She looked out at it.

The floor of the cavern was way below it, but this was the starting point.

And beyond that lip of stone were one hundred Hero students, waiting for the four contestants to come out.

Chaney looked over at Warren and Sophie. The armor had had an upgrade from the usual outfit as well…and damn, did they look fine in their new outfits. Their suits were black with low-grade Kevlar (the stuff that was cheaper than the real thing, but almost as tough), built-in armor and fireproofing. The suits were also form-fitted. And, well…Sophie looked like a succubus from legends—the kind of slim, damn-good looking body and face that could make men salivate from a mile away. Warren, though…

"…mn, but that is the finest sight I've seen in a while." Sheila said from Chaney's side.

Chaney looked over. "Aren't you…?"

Sheila shrugged. "I appreciate what I see. And _that_ is a sight worth appreciating."

_That_ was a very lean, muscled, tall, masculine figure in a form-fitted, black, armor-plated body suit that made his shoulders look even bigger than they already were, made his hips look slim and streamlined…and that ass…that nice, tight ass. Oooh.

Chaney bit her lip and looked away with a wicked grin. Sheila looked her in the face and then glanced back over at Warren.

"You liking what you see too?" She gestured at Warren, and Chaney glanced back over. He and Sophie were walking over to Chaney and Sophie, and now Chaney had a good view of his front. The chest, the shoulders…all the stuff southward…

Sophie noticed the two girls checking him out and scowled. Chaney glanced back at Sheila and nodded—excessively—in the affirmative.

"_Hell_ yes."

Sheila grinned. "Speaking of the devil, I have a feeling he's about to drag you through hell and back again. Oh, and by the way, I think he's checking you out too."

Chaney glanced back, and found Warren frowning at her, his glare more speculative than scornful for once. She glanced down at herself, then over at Sheila. Their outfits were white. A blinding, form-fitted, sexy white with good tailoring (apparently the event was going to be viewed by some _higher ups_ that were affiliated with the school, so the outfits had been made to look good for once). Sheila had a skinny frame that looked almost emaciated in places, but that was probably an intentional part of her rocker-look. She was long, lanky, and her very, very pink hair made her extremely visible. Chaney never had cared for food, worked out a lot, and was tall. She had a lean, athletic figure with a butt that refused to shrink and a chest that just barely managed to match the curve of the backside. Her black hair was pulled back into a French braid, and she knew she was already sweating. It was too hot down here to do anything else.

"What do you think about all this?" Chaney asked Sheila.

"I don't think the guys will be much of a challenge." She said, and turned her gaze from Warren and Sophie to run it down Chaney's form. "They'll take one look at you and pass out. The only guys that can take that heat are the ones who generate a lot of it themselves."

Chaney chuckled. "Back at you. But I mean about my dragging you into this. It was a life-threatening game before, but now I've made it pretty damn dangerous."

Sheila nodded. "No kidding."

"You're not worried." It wasn't a question.

Sheila shrugged. "Life comes and goes. You live it while you've got it, and lose it when it's time to be lost. I don't plan on losing it today."

Chaney grinned. "I knew the moment I met you that I would like the way you think."

Sheila raised her hand to softly stroke Chaney's cheek. "I'm glad," she said with a smile. They just looked at each other for a moment, and then Chaney turned to look back over at Warren and Sophie.

"You know what we have that they don't?" Chaney asked.

"What?" Sheila asked.

"Each other's backs. And a few tricks I've got up my skin-tight sleeves."

"What tricks would that be?" Sophie's voice broke in, and the girls turned.

Chaney didn't answer. Warren and Sophie were too close.

"Ticked off are we?" Chaney asked Warren.

He glanced down at her, and smiled wickedly. "Not in the least. This is even better than the last version."

"You get to cause mass injuries and don't even get in trouble for it." Sheila noted.

He nodded.

"Someone sounds pretty power hungry." Chaney pointed out, and Sophie intervened.

"Someone else sounds like a brownnoser." Sophie sneered.

Chaney stuck out her tongue. Yes, it was immature, but the reaction it got was worth its weight in gold.

Sophie's teeth ground together and her face settled into a look of cold hatred. Chaney thought briefly that the look resembled a polar bear's when its territory had been invaded, and she couldn't help preening inwardly.

Hehe. Chaney turned back to Warren and motioned Sheila near. "I suppose you haven't thought about the fact that this time, you're going to need to plan ahead?"

Warren's eyes narrowed. "Why would you care? You challenged us to this game in the first place."

Chaney shrugged. "There are one hundred Hero-class supers out there waiting to tear us to shreds for the fun of it. I care because I want to win, and unless we avoid some of the kids out there and fight the rest of them with brains as well as brawn, neither of our teams are going to make it." She looked each of the three of them in the eye. "If that means allying myself with the other team at the beginning of the game, okay."

"Sounds fine to me." Sheila said, but Warren was walking away. He walked quickly up to the lip of the cavern—damn, but he looked fine in that outfit, Chaney thought as she watched him walk away—as a loud hum could be heard from below. The other three followed him to look down.

At least three dozen students were scattered just in the gaping, sulfurous cavern below—and two thirds of those numbers seemed to be made up of clones.

It seemed to hit the three of them as Chaney watched their expressions. They were up against supers. One hundred Hero supers.

Chaney felt her own body tremble in fear as she looked down. Why the hell did she have to do her job so damn well?

She looked back up at her three other contestants.

"Well?" She asked them.

Sophie's expression had frozen over. Sheila looked shaken, and Warren looked half-way between being worried and furious. He looked up, met her eyes, and looked back at the other two contestants. His jaw worked.

"Fine. But I make the rules."

Yeah, he was the only guy in this game, Chaney realized. She guessed he had to play macho.

"Chaney and me are on offense. Sophie and Sheila should be on defense. Cover our asses," he crossed his arms. "Shit. This looks bad." He looked worried again, and Chaney guessed that he was probably unwilling to use his unpredictable powers right then.

That would explain the glares he had been sending her way for the past twenty four hours.

Sophie stepped up by his side. "Not that I wouldn't love to cover your ass, but I think it would be smarter to switch me and Chaney."

"I don't think so," he said, and Chaney smiled at the warning in his tone.

"Her powers would be good for defense." Sheila said as she looked at Chaney, and something in the sneer of her expression made defensive powers sound oh-so-inferior. Chaney wanted to strangle her, but she agreed. "And ice does better when it's taking someone out."

"But you have to work harder to make ice down here. Your power supply will be sapped faster." Warren pointed out.

"I'll take care of that. Don't worry about me," Sophie stated smugly.

"Besides, Sophie would piss her Kevlar pants if you outshone her." Sheila told Chaney in a conspiratorial whisper. Sophie glared, then looked back toward the front of the entrance.

"I'm going to go get another drink. I'll be back in a few," she said.

"Take your time." Chaney and Sheila said in unison. Sophie flipped them off.

"Something I've been trying to figure out," Warren said suddenly, "is why us, why here, and why you've been such a pain lately." He looked down to meet Chaney's gaze again. He was puzzling something out, and Chaney waited until the speculation in his eyes cleared and his gaze turned accusing. "Did you had this all planned out?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Monologuing isn't my thing, but since you asked, I'll tell you this much: people scheme all the time. Monopoly, victimization, and backstabbing is part of the world's structure. Get used to it, and maybe, with a few of those spare brain cells that you've been leaving around, try to figure it out on your own. I haven't done anything to you, just so you know, but you're acting as though I'm Brutus betraying his Caesar. If you didn't see me coming and can't figure out what I'm after, then I don't have to humor your thickheaded ignorance. It's part of the game. Just ask your dad."

Suddenly a hand wrapped around her throat and she felt herself lifted off the ground and slammed into the wall.

"I've broken a lot of bones and spilled a lot of blood for less than you've done," he said in a low, menacing voice. "I don't know why the hell you were in my home, and I don't know why the hell you challenged Sophie and me to this game, but you had better fess up before I break your damn neck."

Chaney lifted both her legs then and caught his head in a wrestling lock between her calves. He managed to get one hand between them to keep his air from getting cut off, but she had him pinned.

"Burn me, and you'll get burned too." Chaney choked out. "Start to break my neck and I'll break yours."

They stood like that, locked in a standstill.

Sheila was watching from behind him. "You sure you two don't want a room?" She asked, and Chaney shook her head as well as she could.

"He's just being stubborn." Chaney choked out. "Could you give us a minute?"

Sheila shrugged and walked off after Sophie.

Warren was trying to make sure that he wasn't in danger of a backstabbing from the Chaney's team member (the law of battle is to N.E.V.E.R. turn your back on the enemy…even after you're 98 sure they're dead), but Chaney's neck lock wouldn't allow him to turn his head very far. "Look, I'll explain everything later," Chaney said, and he turned his attention back to her. "I don't expect you to trust me, and I don't expect you to understand. But we need to work together on this, or we'll both get our backsides torn off and handed to us on a silver platter."

Something changed in his eyes then. It snapped into place, and suddenly he was looking at her in a very different way. His flames flared to life against her legs and against her neck, and she went flying. She hit the floor again, grateful that she had been expecting the attack and had managed to deflect the fire from her skin. He walked up, rubbing his face where a very red mark was splayed across his chin, where he had positioned his hand in the headlock. It grayed as she watched, and ash covered his lower jaw for a moment before receding into nothing as he came to tower over her. Her jaw went slack with shock as her eyes took in untouched skin.

Since when had he gained that ability?

"Say your name again," he demanded as he looked down on her prone body.

Shit. "Chaney."

"The whole name."

"Chaney Chai."

"That's not your real name."

Double shit. "What makes you say that?"

"Because I remember you now." He narrowed his eyes at her, and walked over to kneel beside her. She froze: did she need to run?

He reached out a hand and roughly gave her a shove onto her side. She let him, tense, and readied herself to clobber him if he wasn't looking for what she thought he was looking for…

He lifted her hair to look at the back of her neck.

There was a long, silver scar slanting horizontally behind her right ear, and she knew he recognized it. He had put it there. He'd burned her a few times too, but those scars had faded…and they would be a little hard to inspect as they were hiding beneath the skin-tight outfit she was wearing at the moment.

They were silent for a moment, and when she glanced back at him, she noticed that his eyes had darkened. The pupils had expanded, and he brushed a thumb over the scar before briefly glancing down the rest of her. A muscle in his jaw twitched, and he stood and pulled her to her feet.

Chaney didn't pull away when his hand remained on her arm. Yes. It was a cheesy situation, but she was female. There were presently a lot of hormones running rampage through her over-heated system (no matter how good a girl was at suppressing them, hormones always won over willpower), and he was a really hot guy in a form-fitting suit holding her arm. Would YOU have moved?

"What all do you remember?" She asked. He wasn't supposed to be able to remember. The chip was supposed to be suppressing every memory of his childhood that had to do with the labs, and the programmed ones were supposed to mix up any of the memories that made it past the chip.

He shook his head, and when she looked up she noted the confusion in his eyes. Well, if the chip was malfunctioning, then at least it was still _partially _functional. "What the hell is going on?" He asked.

Chaney took a deep breath, and turned her head away. Some small part of her still wished she could tell him. She was the only one with memories of a childhood that to him…never happened. To remember when he didn't even know who she was…it left her standing alone in a world that he'd left behind. But she liked being who she was, and she was willing to pay the price that went along with her job. Silence was hard to keep, but it was the condition that allowed her to keep doing what she did.

"You two look awfully friendly for opponents," came Sophie's voice then, and her tone was as frigid as her surname.

Chaney and Warren turned to look at her, and saw that Sheila was trailing up behind her. Warren let go of Chaney's arm.

Chaney made a face. Rats.

"Only to jealous girfriends," Warren said as he pushed past Chaney and walked over to slip an arm around Sophie's waist. He bent to whisper in her ear, and Chaney could have sworn that she saw his tongue snake out to trace Sophie's earlobe. Sophie met Chaney's gaze, and her smile was flauntingly triumphant.

Jerks. Both of them.

"You decided to participate then?" Chaney couldn't help asking. She noted, distantly, that her voice was full of sweet acid.

Sophie pulled away from Warren to walk up to Chaney.

"I don't give up what's mine so easily," she whispered. "So don't expect to just walk out of this without any scars. I'll turn that pretty face of yours black with frostbite if you ever get near him again." She smiled sweetly. "Did you know that limbs with third degree frostbite actually fall off? I don't know that a nose counts, but I doubt it would ever look the same."

Chaney smiled back just as sweetly. "Did you know I could tear your heart right out of your chest?" Her eyes dropped to Sophie's chest then as she sent a thought trailing through the girl's body to wrap around her heart. Sophie felt it, and her expression turned from contempt to sheer terror in less time than it would have taken to bat an eye. Chaney turned away dismissively, and spotted Warren half-heartedly talking with Sheila. Well, Sheila was the one talking. Warren was watching the two girls that were fighting over him.

"Contestants, take your positions." Power's voice distracted them, and Chaney glanced at Sophie again.

"Oh, and by the way, when I said I'd spay you earlier, that wasn't an idle threat." Chaney put as much frost into her smile as she could, and she was quite certain she rivaled the temperature of Sophie's glare. Sophie was flashing Chaney a look that promised a gutting later. Chaney didn't care. She'd gotten hurt the day before because she'd needed a reason to challenge Sophie and her boyfriend. It wouldn't have happened otherwise.

Sophie snorted under her breath and turned away. She wasn't exactly retreating with her tail between her legs, but Chaney felt smugly satisfied anyway.

Sheila dropped a hand to the small of Chaney's back as she walked up on Chaney's other side. She leaned in close to Chaney's ear.

"You are my hero," she whispered. "I've been wanting to put that bitch in her place ever since I got here." Chaney could hear the smile in her voice, but she wasn't expecting the warm feeling of something wet trailing lovingly down her ear. The sensitive nerves tingled with pleasure, and it sent a chill down Chaney's back. She glanced over at Sheila in shock.

"For luck." Sheila winked and pulled away.

Chaney looked back down into the cavern and raised her eyebrows in an incredulous expression. This school was beginning to be interesting.

"On my mark," said Power's voice.

"Sheila, are we together on this?" Chaney asked.

"Skin tight." Sheila commented with a tug on the neck of her outfit.

"Good." Chaney stepped up to lean in toward Sophie. "You better not get your man's ass cooked. Prepare to forfeit your position if you fail." Chaney grinnned over her shoulder.

"Don't bother getting your hopes up." Sophie shot back.

"Get ready," Powers said.

Chaney lifted the other three up with a thought, then glanced back at their surprised exclamations.

"Ready?" She asked them, and they nodded.

A loud horn sounded somewhere, and Chaney levitated the four of them to the floor of the cavern as the three dozen students that were there rushed for the contestants.

"Let the game begin!" Powers called.

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A/N - So? How was it? You like? Maybe? Well, just you wait for the next chapter! Caverns aren't ALL open and large, and sometimes people get stuck in little spaces...

Reviews? Please? ;P (hint, hint, nudge, nudge)


	7. A Friendly Mauling

A/N - Sorry to all who have read this before June 20. I inserted a character into the first chapter named Phaden. Big, blond, hates Warren, Warren hates him...anyway, just thought I'd let you know. )

Oh yeah, sorry for taking a while to update. I've been busy...but then, when I go back to college you're not gonna hear from me too often, so I'd better finish this...

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They hit the ground amidst a torrent of flying rocks. Clones were dashing at them from every angle. Chaney and Sheila took the front in defense, and Warren and Sophie made their attacks from their covered positions. Warren summoned his flames and launched a rapid string of fireballs at whatever target was closest. His movements concise and swift, and though Chaney kept her eyes on the enemy, she had to work with him and Sophie as the supers closed in. Chaney was surprised to note the serious expressions on their faces. They both looked like veteran field agents, serious and trained to kick butt as efficiently as possible.

Sheila switched spots with Chaney when the occasion called for them to swap. Sheila had slit one wrist, and while the skin healed, she whirled the stream of blood around and manipulated it into various objects, defending the temporary attackers. Chaney kept the attacks far away from the group. Nothing hit them from her line of defense.

Laser beans, rubble, paper used as knives, whipping silken threads, levitating stalagmites, lava, and dozens of charging students converged on the contestants, and Chaney and Sheila fought the attacks back as Warren and Sophie tried to take out the attackers.

Chaney gestured, throwing the rocks aside, deflecting them, and threw aside the bodies of attacking clones. There was a blur through the crowd, and Sophie's ice reached out over the ground to make the running super slip and go flying. Sheila slashed away the flying liquid of a water-sprite-like person, and then reshaped her blood into a shield to cover Sophie from the laser-boy. The ice queen shot knives of crystalline ice at her opponents, then twisted around and completely froze an oncoming clone. The cavern was too hot for her ice to last long, but it didn't need to last for more than a few seconds in the close fighting quarters. Warren shot a ball of flame at the frozen statue, and it exploded to send the clone flying

They were doing well, for a time. They had knocked at least seven students out of the game when the first slip-up occurred.

When a team of competitors fight together, who have never fought together before, there will inevitably be a point at which they will forget they are in a team. Survival instinct supports the saying "every man for himself", and Chaney had seen hundreds of examples of it on the field. Even when trained agents worked on a mission, the danger of the situation created a window for psychological error.

Chaney had hoped that here, on their turf, playing the school games, her unofficial team might be familiar enough with the competition to avoid that temptation. She was wrong though.

Go figure. Nothing ever goes smoothly.

Sheila fell prey to her instincts, and Chaney saw the slip in the defenses as soon as the boy did. Phaden had shown up, and Chaney was not pleased to learn of his power. His lightning-swift attacks were keeping Sheila off balance—he must have had training outside of Sky High, because he was disturbingly good at hand-to-hand—and worse, he wasn't taking any of her counters. They went right through his body as though he were an insubstantial hologram. Warren was trying to fire at him, but there seemed to be a massive collaboration against him. He couldn't attack Phaden while being distracted by another attacker, and Warren wasn't Phaden's target.

There were too many opponents, and Sheila couldn't cover her defense position when she was spending too much time on one attacker. She knew it, and Phaden knew it, so Sheila launched an attack. She should have been defending, but when she moved beyond that position, she overextended herself.

Chaney was locked in a battle of wills with a short little female levitator, catching the flying objects that the girl was throwing BACK after Chaney had deflected them. The girl was making it difficult to focus on anyone else. Warren shot a fireball at the girl, shouted a warning that there was another attacker to the left, and Chaney whirled around behind him to fling away another clone (who, by the way, was packing a seriously large club). Chaney didn't even see Sheila's blood net until Phaden had moved far away from the group. When Chaney spotted her, she shouted warning. Sheila was open, and by the look on the girl's face when she spotted another attacker, Sheila knew it.

The difference between Sheila's weapon and the weapons of the other three was that hers had a limited range of coverage. Sophie and Warren didn't run out of weapons until they ran out of energy. Chaney's power reached as far or as near as she needed it to, instantaneously. Sheila's blood net disintegrated and came flying back to cover her, but she wasn't fast enough.

Chaney glanced at Phaden, who caught her gaze and winked.

Sophie was open, and another kid came hopping in to attack her. Sophie was thrown into a stalagmite as Chaney whipped the first two attackers into a group of other challengers. Warren took care of Sophie's attacker. Phaden hit Sheila again, and her blood shield couldn't stop him. He gestured, and three other supers fired from all around the group. A rain of paper bats flew in on the four main contestants, slicing at any exposed skin, distracting them as other attacks battered them from the sidelines. Chaney got hit by something—there were times when all you were aware of was a large explosion of pain and the subsequent star-spangled banner flashing before your eyes when your skull connected with the ground—and she was flattened just before Sophie pounded Phaden with an ice mallet. Yeah. An ice mallet.

Warren stepped over Sheila as she pulled herself back up from a sonic beating. Sheila formed her blood into a shield and wrapped it around him long enough to gather himself, and he reached up and flamed the attacking paper beasts. The whole throbbing flock burst into flame and the group was suddenly thrust into an inferno. Chaney whipped the flaming mass into a circular shield around them, and then Sophie froze it into a solid wall.

There were three supers still in the center of the ring of swiftly-melting ice, and Sheila soon made mincemeat out of them. From the look on her face, she was pissed.

Sophie whirled on the pink-haired girl. "Do NOT do that again," she snarled. "You IDIOT! I nearly got snapped in half because of that move!"

Sheila flipped her off and glared, but said nothing.

The ice wall exploded inward on the back side then, and Chaney turned in the direction they were supposed to be going.

"Let's bicker later, ladies," Warren said as he stepped up next to Chaney and dragged Sophie by the arm. Chaney thrust the ice wall outward and threw it far across the room.

"Take the front Sheila!" Chaney ordered just as Warren said, "Chaney, cover our asses. Sophie, move ahead of me." Sheila fell into place, like a soldier following her general, but Sophie paused to glare at Warren.

"Why the hell are you treating her like she's more capable than I am?" Sophie demanded, and Warren whirled on her.

"There's no time to argue!" He shouted, just as a laser beam grazed across his neck and another nearly hit Chaney in the shoulder—laser beams were a hellova lot harder to deflect than anything else; especially since she was already deflecting most of them and everything else.

"Can we choose the pecking order LATER? Get your #&$ #&$!, #$$#$ BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP asses MOVING!" Chaney shouted, and everyone obediently bolted for the exit Chaney had made as three more near-misses nearly took their heads off. Chaney took the last position as the supers came flocking in from the backside of the ice ring. Others leapt over the top, and in general, things weren't looking good. Again. She would have knocked back the laser-kid, but the levitator was protecting him. The levitator was holding back most of Chaney's attacks. Chaney was more powerful, but the girl was focusing on protecting the laser kid, and Chaney was getting hit from multiple directions. Her concentration was too scattered.

Then, on the trail of that happy thought, Phaden came running into the picture. He shouted something, and a huge group of supers began converging on them.

Laser beams followed on their tails, and Chaney ripped several large stalactites from the ceiling and fit them together in a jig-saw pattern. She liquefied them and molded them together into a solid shield, then set the massive wall down behind them. The group ran, but they hadn't reached the other side of the first cavern by the time several laser beams destroyed her makeshift barrier.

" Warren!" Chaney shouted, and he dropped back as she whirled. He positioned himself behind her, as Sheila ran with Sophie. Chaney dropped into a crouch, and started deflecting what attacks she could. Warren, arms flaming, hurled several fireballs at the scrawny, be-spectacled kid who was shooting laser beams from his eyes. Two balls of flame flew at the laser-boy, and three at approaching clones.

The laser boy was blasted away with a fireball, and another three clones were knocked back with a swipe of Chaney's arm (in a moment when she actually had enough attention to spare on offense). The bear that a morpher was turning into was thrown against a far wall by another of Warren's fireballs, but Chaney's shield had slipped, and a kid who could project force fields smashed her up against the ceiling. She hit the floor and cried out when her arm got thrown out of place.

"Get up!" Warren's voice said, and he grabbed her arm with one hand as he yanked her back to her feet with the other. Phaden appeared in front of him though, and Warren threw a fireball as he slipped an arm around her waist to support her. Her head was bleeding, she noticed absently…

The fireball went right through Phaden, and Chaney pulled away from Warren—though her balance without his support wasn't anything of fine quality. Phaden threw a punch at Warren, who ducked. Another punch came in, and Warren blocked it. When Warren tried to land a flaming fist, however, it just went right through Phaden's body.

"We don't have time for this!" Sophie shouted as more supers caught up. Chaney hit another stalactite, and Warren took a fist to his jaw before letting loose with an explosive fireball that sent Phaden's comrades flying. Phaden shrunk back, and Chaney threw him. Hehehe. He might dodge bullets, but he couldn't escape supernatural kinetics.

Warren blasted away a couple of wiry kids and bent to yank Chaney to her feet.

"Owowowowow!" She whined, and made a face at him. "Watch it ya brute!"

"If you'd rather be left to the bloodsuckers, I can just leave you behind." Warren shot back as he started dragging her along.

"Fine. I'll let you drag me around like a caveman." Chaney hissed as he yanked her back behind a mammoth stalagmite. "Can you yank my arm back into the socket?" Super powers filled the chamber, and with every clone that fell, another two seemed to fill their place.

Warren shot another fireball as he shifted Chaney toward the center of their cover. He ducked back and put a hand on her shoulder as he gave her arm a snap with the other hand. She bit back a scream as she felt the bone grind back into place, the oddly stretched tendons snapping like taught ropes back into their original positions. Warren turned her then, still in his arms, to face the chamber.

They had made it three fourths of the way across, but the rest of the distance was looking pretty dangerous right then.

"Work with me," Warren said, and fired up his arms. He was holding her hands, and she had to concentrate past the pain. Her hands were burning. Her shoulder ached and her head was throbbing where she was sure an egg-sized knot was forming. Sophie's scream in the background nearly managed to distract her, but Warren squeezed her hands and she jerked her thoughts back into order. Warren's flames were gathering around her powers. Every charged molecule was like a thousand volts of pure energy, combusting with such power that she felt washed up in it. She sucked in a deep breath, struggling to control the wild energy, and finally projected it into the cavern.

It expanded outward, a huge, pulsing, flaming shield that exploded without warning and threw all of the supers in their way far across the chamber. Warren shook from the effort, and when it was over, the chamber was cleared except for four supers that were soon frozen. Sophie lowered her hands, one side of her head bloody, and looked at them from her position a hundred yards away. Chaney and Warren sighed.

"Good job," Warren said, and gave Chaney's waist a squeeze as he waited for her to gain her feet. She only fumbled for a moment—her pride wouldn't let her wobbling legs give in—and jogged over to the others with him.

"Well?" Sophie asked when they had rendezvoused, "Are you all right Warren?"

Warren paused just long enough to say, "We shouldn't stop to chat now. We need to keep moving. Once we're beyond this first chamber, no one in here is allowed to touch us."

Sheila turned and immediately started off. "Well then let's get going before they wake back up!"

The other three followed, and it wasn't until they passed the second entrance to the inner caverns that they stopped to catch their breath.

"How is everyone holding up?" Chaney asked.

Sheila held up her thumb and forefinger in an a-okay sign, and Sophie glared for a moment.

"Fine." Sophie said.

Chaney, still holding her arm, looked at Warren. He let loose one of those rare…shockingly attractive smiles and shrugged.

"You took most of my attacks," he said.

Chaney cocked a brow as she huffed. "Then what's that?" She pointed at a hole in his armor, where smooth skin showed beneath the fabric on one shoulder.

He shook his head. "Where are we?"

She lifted her arm then to reach into her tight sleeve. It took some maneuvering, but she got her fingers inside of the cheapo Kevlar and pulled out a small, folded piece of paper.

"What's that?" Sheila and Sophie asked.

"This is what I stole from Powerpuff's office last night," Chaney said, and unfolded the map of the caverns. The other three gathered around, and Chaney held it up. She pointed out a route she had charted in the early hours of that morning. It went past an underground lake, up a sheer wall and through a very small opening between caverns…and so forth to the cavern in the center of the caves.

"Hmm. Good girl." Sheila smiled.

"This route should have the least number of students along it, so let's go." Chaney folded the paper back up, glanced around at them, winked at Warren to irritate Sophie, and levitated herself across the cavern. "Let's go already!"

The other three came after her, and started out farther through the caverns.

The lake was bubbling, and the dark was complete—except for the flames Warren was keeping on, and a couple of glow sticks the contestants had been given.

Eight more unconscious (and slightly injured) kids were behind them, and the foursome kept their eyes ahead. The rules Powers had elaborated on the night before said that any kids in a chamber the contestants had already passed through were not allowed to attack them a second time.

So. Anyone attacking them would come from the present location. Chaney was waiting for more action, but none was showing up.

"Warren Peace, hotter than fire," Sophie said as she walked at Warren's side, arm in arm with him. She glanced at the fireball he was keeping alight at his chest-level, then up at him, and Chaney grimaced at the two. Warren gave an effort at a smile, looking uncomfortable—like he had a little of Chaney's "touch me and die a painful, celibate death"—and looked everywhere but at Sophie.

He was so damn gorgeous, and sooooo cute.

Sheila caught Chaney looking and winked.

Chaney shrugged and turned back ahead again. The silence was absolute, but she doubted it would last for long. They had been walking for maybe ten minutes, and they had seen no one beyond the first cavern.

It was making her tense. The others were starting to relax, but Chaney wished something would jump out at her already so all the melodrama could be ended. She knew that nearly fifty students wasn't going to be it.

"Boo!"

Chaney jumped nearly out of her skin, and Sheila laughed. "Gotcha," she said.

Chaney breathed out explosively. "Do _not_ do that to me again."

"Or what? You'll rip out my heart?" Sheila grinned.

Chaney's eyebrows shot up. "I just _might._"

Sheila glanced back and grinned. "I'm sure you wish you could do something with _someone's_ heart."

Chaney chuckled. "Who wouldn't?"

"Oh so you admit to it."

"Easily."

Sheila's smile faded. "You're no fun."

"Sorry."

They walked on in silence for a moment, and Sheila spoke up again. This time though, her tone was low. "You know, I think he's already dumped her in his head."

Chaney looked over at her. She was concentrating on her surroundings—if the said "sixth sense" could be projected, then she had to be awful close to succeeding, with as hard as she was trying.

"I said I think he's already dumped her in his head. He doesn't strike me as being really into this relationship."

Chaney shrugged. "Well, I guess that unlike _somebody,_ he has other things to occupy his mind right now. Frigid bitches who claim to be his girlfriend take a back seat to trying to stay alive and whipping the tail of the person who insulted him." Chaney grinned.

"Which would be you."

"Mmm, hmm."

Sheila rolled her eyes. "You're enjoying this."

Chaney's grin widened. "You better believe it."

Suddenly, the ground shot up between them, and Sheila shrieked in anger as she flew toward the bubbling, sulfurous lake. Chaney hit the wall and shot out a thought that stopped Sheila's body just inches from the bubbling water, but the lake was trembling with the quakes that were shaking the ground. Stalactites were shaking loose of the ceiling, and a huge, rippling wave made from something like a sonic boom came roaring through the chamber. Chaney yanked Sheila's body back from the water and screeched as a stalactite narrowly missed her own body. Chaney's back was cut, but there was little damage otherwise. She glanced over and saw Warren's flames leaping through the air, turning into a gaseous column of roaring, raging flame that washed across the water, obliterating everything in its path, filling the whole chamber. Chaney was taken aback at first, but then she remembered what it meant to cause a fire in a room full of gas (A/N – mention the fact that those fumes would be toxic for them to breathe & I'll…figure something out to make you regret it…P). He'd only caused a small flame, but now it was wild and out of his control.

He and Sophie ducked back against a wall, and Sophie made a wall of ice around them as Chaney drew Sheila back and gathered several large boulders to cover the two of them.

The boulders rumbled and twitched as dozens of falling stalactites hit them, burying Chaney and Sheila. Sheila held on to Chaney, covering her as Chaney kept her hands raised, holding the boulders in place above them. The ground kept rumbling beneath their feet, and the roar of the falling rocks echoed through their heads.

And then silence fell, coming as swiftly as the onslaught.

"I can't breath," Sheila rasped, and Chaney nodded. She was trembling. Just by giving an experimental push, she could tell that there was a mountain of rubble above her—literally—and she didn't have an exact picture of each of them in order to be able to move them individually. So…first things first. She was going to have to risk a collapse to shove the rubble up.

"Cover your head," Chaney said, and with a slow, deep breath, she gathered all her mental muscles and reared up, straining under the effort, and threw the boulders and everything on top of them far across the cavern. The mountain of rubble exploded outwards, and many more boulders that had simply exploded straight up began falling down again. Chaney reached out both hands and started batting them aside, throwing them at the other end of the cavern where several heroes with very large eyes were standing, gaping.

Plant matter suddenly reared up from the ground, wrapping around Chaney's legs, and Sheila's bloody sword snapped out to cut them away as fast as they grew. Chaney was a little nervous about the nearness of the blade, but Sheila was soon fending them off herself and moved the blade away. Chaney glanced over at where Warren and Sophie were, both of them covered in blood, with a shattered ice-shelter around them. Chaney glanced back at the oncoming group of heroes and just barely managed to duck as a twining plant tried to wrap its vines around her neck.

"Sophie's down!" Warren called, and lifted the girl to carry her over. Sophie was still half-conscious, but she looked like her scull had taken a good knocking.

Chaney took another deep breath, hoping that what she was about to do was not a completely foolish notion. "Get moving toward the cliffs," she said. She was starting to get a major headache, but it was unavoidable, she knew. She was going to use up her energy before she ever got to the end. Oh well. Forward for love and hotties, right?

She stepped forward to the edge of the lake where a figure was flying toward her. Will?

"Better look out buddy!" She called to him, and with a deep inhale, she sent her thoughts out and watched as the waters gathered themselves, compressing and shuddering before rearing up in a tsunami nearly forty feet high. Most of the lake's waters joined their forces to make the wave, and then went rushing across the cavern to crash against the walls on the other side. Chaney barely had a glimpse of several heroes running for their lives before the impact, and she turned away as a flying figure swooped over the top of the wave and made a beeline for her and her retreating comrades. Sheila wrapped her blood around him in a makeshift rope, and he plummeted to the ground as they ran. Others, though, were making their way around the far side of the lake.

_We need to hurry, _Chaney thought.

They were nearly at the bottom of the cliffs, and Chaney could see the tunnel opening at the top.

"Get ready for a lift!" She bellowed, and reached out to levitate them upwards. The move was far faster than it had been before, and Chaney heard all three of them shout out in alarm as their bodies were deposited atop the cliffs.

Meanwhile, Chaney was too late to levitate herself up.

Something rammed into her from behind, and Chaney just barely managed to duck into a roll before taking the full impact. Apparently Sheila had lost her concentration on that lift.

"Sorry!" Will said as he dropped to the ground in front of her. Chaney had stopped rolling and was back on her feet.

"No need!" She shouted, and threw him back against a wall. Behind her, Chaney felt plants wrapping around her legs, and she knew Layla was near. She glanced around and spotted the redhead up on a ledge far above her head, and noted that Will was ready to charge again.

Something sharp sank into her leg, and the thought Chaney had been about to form scattered through her mind as she gasped in pain. She looked down at her leg to see a large, mean looking needle protruding from the back of her thigh.

"Sorry!" Layla called, and Chaney heard the wince in her tone.

"Everybody's sorry," Chaney muttered

Shit. Chaney was only half-way through an escape plan when a ball of flame shot up (from the ground near the cliffs) and disintegrated the ledge Layla was standing on. She screamed for Will as she started falling, and Will left Chaney to jump into the air. Chaney yanked the thorn out of her leg and ran, limping, for Warren, who had somehow gotten back to the ground. He grabbed her arm and started literally dragging her back to the cliffs.

Will had landed behind them though, and they felt the sonic boom of his fist crusher—or whatever it was called, Chaney couldn't remember at the moment—and the cavern shook from the blow. Any stalactites that had held on during the last shake fell off on this one. Warren shoved Chaney against the walls of the cliffs and pushed her down onto her knees for him to kneel over her, her head covered by his head and shoulders. She wrapped her arms around his sides and pointed her hands upward, hoping to deflect anything that came near enough.

Was this romantic, or what?

Probably the "or what" part. Only a sadist would think this was romantic…right? Chaney caught the grin and wiped it off her face. She still hoped Sophie was watching though.

The quake stopped then, and the two of them raised their heads to look back. Will and Layla were closing in, and another dozen supers were behind them. They both looked up, but the entrance to the tunnel at the top of the cliff was covered in rubble. They couldn't go that way, so Warren grabbed her arm and started dragging her away.

"Got a plan B?" he asked.

"Sort of." Chaney said from behind him. "See that little itty bitty gopher-looking hole in the wall over there?"

"No."

"Well, that'll take us along another roundabout tour of the caverns, but it should keep us clear of the worst clusters of students."

"Like this path?"

Chaney shot him an indignant glance, but he wasn't looking. "Hey, if you noticed, there were only about eight out of the fifty sum heroes left. And besides, you got any better plans?" She huffed out the last part, because their run was winding her more than her beatings had. Her leg stung, but with various super-hero attacks whizzing through the air and biting at their heels, there was little chance of making any pit stops. No repairs in sight either, with Sheila sealed away at the tops of the cliffs. At least Sophie would get healed.

Damn. It figured that Sophie would be the one to benefit from this.

Warren hadn't replied, because he had spotted the little hole she was talking about. He skidded to a stop beside it and shoved her in front of him. "Get in."

"But I'll need to—"

"GET IN NOW." He practically barked, and she sighed as she dropped to her knees and crawled into the hole. He followed, and several yards in, she hugged the side of the wall and motioned him up beside her.

"I have to cave it in now, so get your butt out of the way," she snapped, and he squeezed up beside her. It was a very tight fit—nearly as tight a fit as their damn outfits, which were really starting to get uncomfortable—but she needed a clear view of the entrance. She had to shift onto her side and lean on Warren's shoulder to reach out over his hip—geez this was ridiculously small: good thing she wasn't claustrophobic—to use her hand in a gesture that directed her mental commands. The end of the tunnel started caving in, and the two of them ducked their heads toward each other. When it stopped, Chaney glanced back.

They had been thrown into complete and absolute, almost oppressing blackness. She hadn't realized that there was light in the larger cavern until it was gone.

"Wow," was all Warren said from the space just next to her neck. The rocks stopped shifting at the entrance, and the only sound that filled the darkness was their heavy wheezing. Chaney just flopped for a moment, trying to catch her breath, when she noticed something.

Oh shit… was that his thigh stuck between her knees?

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A/N - hehehehehehehehehehe 9.9


	8. Powers be

Chaney chuckled, trying to distract herself, and nearly spooked at the eerie sound of her voice in the enclosed space. This was not going to be good for her self-control. She really needed to crack some kind of lame joke to cool off her own head…"I…don't think I'll ever be able to sleep without a night-light after this."

Wow. That was just about the most pathetic attempt at humor she'd ever made…but then, her right arm was pressed up against one of his sides, between one knotted muscle and the groove of his hip. Her elbow was pressed up against his abdomen, and between that joint and her shoulder, her arm was getting real friendly with one very prominent pec—well, all right, maybe it wasn't as prominent as it _seemed_ to be…but then again, maybe it was…

Breath. She needed to keep breathing. It was all okay. It was an awkward situation. Something they couldn't help being in. They had no other choice.

She shifted so she was facing him instead of laying half on her back. It only marginally improved the contact. No. What she meant was, it decreased the contact…though whether that were an improvement, she wasn't sure.

"Yeah." Warren sounded preoccupied, and he shifted. That was definitely his leg…Chaney sucked in a breath, squirming, and he froze. When he spoke again, he did so slowly, sounding slightly…different than he had before. He sounded a little strained. "Uh, do you have any of your glow-sticks? Mine aren't exactly reachable." Warren's disembodied voice sent chills down her spine. She knew he was only inches away from her head, but she couldn't see him…not even a damn shape in the darkness, and that made her _feel _him all the more pointedly. It was seriously creeping her out.

She swallowed. "Hold it, I'll see if I can reach them." She tried to reach into the pouch that the contestants had all been given, but it was strapped around the back side of her waist and she had to shift closer to Warren to reach into it. She could feel the blush spreading across her face as her chest and hips pressed up against him. He turned his head, but she could still feel his breath against her neck, brushing over her jaw in a warm, awkward caress. She told herself it was unavoidable, but that didn't change the fact that she didn't mind it. Um, where was the touchy-feely phobia when a girl needed it? She was uncomfortable, but she liked it.

Chaney fished for the glow stick and pulled it out as quickly as she could, and then shifted into her original position, which wasn't really anything of an improvement. Little tunnels made very private regions very public. Ahem. She snapped the glow stick and shook it—well, technically she only wobbled it between her fingers because there was so little room, but what the heck? Close enough—and the tiny tunnel lit up.

She almost wished she had kept it in her pouch, because Warren's face was only inches away from hers, and their bodies were a lot closer. And they were both still breathing hard. Then her eyes landed on those full, sulking lips, and she just about lost her cool.

All of it.

His gaze trailed down from her face, and over her shoulder, to her side, then down to her hips, and she was suddenly very, very aware of how little the skin-hugging suits left to the imagination. Her pelvis was practically framed…and so was that general region on him. Yes, she looked. He was, so why couldn't she?

She squirmed, and could've sworn that his damn gaze was heating up her skin beneath the Kevlar—as if the heat in the little tunnel weren't already uncomfortable enough. Well, the heat of the tunnel added to the heat of his body. Hey, he was a pyrokinetic. There was a reason they said he was hot. Then she followed his gaze, and swallowed. Basically, they were packed together like sardines in a can. He was overpowering, and he made the tiny space feel even smaller. His presence surrounded her senses with hot, sensual, elementally masculine power.

_CHANEY!! Geez, get a hold of yourself. _Just because some of her nether regions had started singing hallelujahs _did not_ mean she was allowed to forget...um...forget why she was here...

_Breath, girl._ Chaney tried to remind herself, but she was about to have a panic attack. She did not like the fact that every time she inhaled, her cheap-Kevlar covered chest kept brushing up against his.

_I'm gonna burn in Hell for this. _She thought, and then bit her lip at the irony.

Warren glanced back to the entrance of the cave. Some of the rocks had shifted on the outside. He lifted a hand, ready to send a fireball at it to melt it closed, and Chaney barely had room to reach up and catch his wrist. Her hip was in the way, and she didn't want to get burned. Well, not that way at least.

"Don't," she said when his eyes shifted back to hers. "The air in here will probably make us both go up in flames."

His eyes dropped to her lips then, and she could have sworn that her heart stopped beating all together.

_Get out of here Chaney._ Her head warned her. Everything else was screaming _JUMP HIM!_

The wrist she was holding dropped onto the hip that was in the way, and she shivered. Yes. She shivered. In that heat. Oh dear…good bye dignity. Good bye all self-respect—her mind was turning into the kind of soft-mush that resembled the solidity of boiled vegetables.

She swallowed, trying to wet a throat that was suddenly very dry. "Besides," she whispered, "even if it didn't, I wouldn't appreciate getting burnt in the process…"

Her brain ceased functioning as he leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers, and then ran his tongue along the inside of her upper lip. Literally, everything in her body froze in place and she went on autopilot. At least, that was what she would tell herself later when she kicked herself over not kissing him back. All she could think about was those knotted muscles pressing into her flesh all the way up her body.

She wished someone would explain what was going on, because surely Warren Peace was not kissing her. Was he? Sophie was going to kill her when she found out.

Sophie.

Chaney jumped back and hit her head on the side wall. "Oh...shit." She shut her eyes and started in on a long line of expletives.

Warren groaned. "I can't believe I just did that."

She shook her head. "Forget it ever happened." Then she looked up and met his gaze...and caught her breath at the look of guilt and confusion in his eyes. Shit. Hormones were such backstabbers.

"We should definitely get moving," he said softly, and refused to look at her. "You head on out first, since you know where we're going."

"Okay." Chaney started to shift, and no matter how she moved, she kept bumping up against him. "Sorry."

"No problem," he said, but suddenly his voice was straining. He tried to help her move past him, but suddenly his hands were turning too hot for touch. Chaney gasped, and he groaned in pain.

Chaney hissed in pain. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head, and tried to push her past him again. "Nothing. Just hurry."

Chaney obeyed, and pushed away from him as their proximity started to burn her skin. She gasped in pain, and tried to hold back her sudden panic. She was wiggling past, but they were still touching, and it _hurt._ "Warren what's happening?" She barely managed to screech out, but he just groaned louder. His touch was searing her through her protective gear.

_"Hurry up__,"_ he ordered, and she scrambled to get up ahead of him, out of the tunnel. She tried to look back and make sure he was following, but the tiny room barely let her turn her head. He was pushing himself to his knees, and trying to crawl along behind her. She could feel the heat radiating off him though, and in those close quarters it was stifling.

And it was roasting her backside, wrong as that sounded. She scrambled ahead for a good five minutes, and when she reached the opening on the far side, she couldn't help but sigh with relief. Warren took another two minutes to come out. She counted.

When he finally did drag himself out of the tunnel, he looked like he was in agony. Chaney bent to touch his forehead, and recoiled with a hiss of pain. All right. Now she was getting scared.

Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit. What the hell had she done this time? She had known his powers were unstable. She shouldn't have done anything to set them off. Was it her fault? Dammit, she'd never screwed up this bad before. He felt hot enough to combust.

Would that be a bad thing, or could he handle it at this rate? The panic shot through her veins like ice water. COULD he self-combust? He did it all the time with his arms…was that just a measure of control? Could he do it without hurting himself?

Was it the game? He had been fine until they got in the tunnel. It had to be her fault. Or maybe she had just put a topper on the whole pile of shit and made his already unstable power development escape an already unsteady control. Or maybe she was just creating imaginative scenarios now, but whatever it was, she was freaking out.

_Stay calm. _She had to stay calm.

"Warren?" Her voice was steadier than it should have been. She'd always had good control over her features and her voice. She almost wished a hint of fear would break past her damn act.

He didn't say anything, just sprawled on the ground beside her and wheezed.

Would he snap out of it if she slapped him?

She dropped down onto her hands and knees in front of him. "Warren! Answer me!" She demanded, but didn't dare touch him. "Have you lost control? Was it the cavern, or me?"

He cracked a small grin. "Neither. I just haven't been feeling too good lately."

There was steam raising up off him, and Chaney swore—in three different languages. She reached up to her ear and started fumbling at the clasp of her thorn earring. She was pretty sure she knew what was happening.

"I betcha your powers are developing too fast for your body to build up an immunity to them." She swore again…her earring wasn't cooperating. "It happens naturally as you grow up with powers, but sometimes when a person's abilities develop too fast, their biological defenses against them are overwhelmed. I think that's what's happening to you. Your body'll catch up eventually, but not if you're dead." She got her earring off, and gasped as a surge of power washed over her, let loose for the first time in years. She felt the wound on her back closing, and her energy returned with plenty of excess, making her feel as though she had been holding her breath for too long, and just now had a chance to replenish her oxygen. Her body trembled from the strength of it.

Oooooooooooh, sweet freedom…

She sucked in a few more breaths, trying to reach equilibrium despite so much power running loose in her system. She had to reach a state of control, or she would lose it—or loose it.

"Warren. I need to put this on your ear," she whispered, but he was trembling now too. A moment more, and he was shaking like a druggy in withdrawal. She reached out to touch his head again, bracing herself for the searing heat, but suddenly he went into convulsions. He thrashed, and she clamped her hands down on either side of his head. She gasped at the instant, excruciating pain. He almost threw her off, and she tried to hold him down with her mind. She couldn't concentrate though, and something was pushing _back_. He was completely losing control, but he had enough power to push her back.

Chaney whimpered, her hands burning with the contact, and tears of pain sprung to her eyes. She swallowed them back and took a deep, choking breath.

"_Tough it out, kid," _came a deep, menacing voice from a distant memory. Strong hands reached through reinforced, power-sapping prison bars to cup her face—and back then, the hand had been big enough to cup most of her head. _"Tough it out. For all our sakes."_

Okay. Time to get up close and personal. Chaney straddled his waist and clamped her legs around him. She wrapped her arms around his head, trying to hold him still enough to get the earring in, but he was thrashing too hard. She choked back a scream and felt the tears drying up before they ever had a chance to leave her eyes. They weren't voluntary tears though, and she was grinding her jaw against the pain. His body was burning hot, and she felt her skin shriveling under the contact. She fumbled with the side of his head, trying to get the inhibitor chip pinned onto his ear.

It took her longer than it should have, with Warren thrashing around, his arms grasping for a handhold—any handhold—and his legs straining, throwing his body upward in agony. He cried out, groaned, and thrashed. A scream never quite made it past his lips, because he was holding his breath more often than not. Chaney fought with him, trying to get her fingers to work right—dammit!—but it took several failed attempts to finally get the disguised chip into his ear. She had to get the back in place then, and when the two pieces snapped together…

She could tell the moment his powers started receding. He was fighting them so hard that he hadn't burst into flames yet, but Chaney was whimpering into his hair. Half her face was burnt, she knew, and most of her body was in agony. She hadn't wanted to use her power on him lest it work against the affect of the inhibitor chip—maybe it was the genius biology-addict speaking, or maybe it was just screwed up logic, but her brain was fried, so shut the fuck up—and now she was the one trembling in pain.

He fell still finally, but neither of them had the strength to move. Chaney felt his chest heaving beneath her. She needed to get off him so he could breath. She couldn't move for a while though, so it took a few minutes for her to shift her weight enough to start moving away.

His arms came up to wrap around her, holding her in place. She felt his ragged breath against her collarbone, and fell still, stretched out on top of him.

After a few more of said ragged breaths, Chaney summoned the willpower to speak past her pain. "Has anything like that ever happened before?"

There was a brief pause. "No," came the breathed answer against her neck. Another pause as he desperately sucked in oxygen. "What did you pin on my ear?"

Chaney took another deep breath, and tried to rally her thoughts. They had scattered like dandelion seeds on a windy day, and it was difficult to drag them back. "It's an inhibitor chip. It was designed for me though, so it may not repress your powers like it's supposed to. It was sort of made as a storage container for me, but it should stabilize your power."

He huffed against her neck for another few heartbeats. "Who are you?" He finally asked.

Chaney smiled against his hair, which was now simply warm and soft—though the tender side of her face didn't like the contact. "I'm just here to protect you." She whispered cheekily.

Yes, it sounded like a sappy reply. As already stated, her brain was fried. She was in pain. She was tired. Deal with it.

"We need to get moving. We only have maybe ten minutes left," Chaney whispered, and then shifted her hands to brace them against the ground to push herself away.

She wailed at the contact, and collapsed on top of him, her hands screaming with pulsating agony.

"What's wrong?" he asked, and she couldn't reply. She had to swallow her sobs, too proud to break down, as always, and choked on the pain. He rolled her over then and looked down at her. Then when he realized there was so little light, he lit a fireball and looked down...and sucked in a shocked breath.

Chaney just shook in silence, and tried not to imagine the damage.

"We have to find Sheila," he said in a panicked whisper, and he bent to slip his arms under Chaney. She whimpered as he picked her up, and when he turned to face the cavern they had just entered, she sucked in a breath to hold back another sob.

"Where to?" He asked, and she turned her head with some difficulty to look around.

She took another deep breath, and it took her a while to focus on his question. Where to? Where had she been taking them? It took even longer to remember the path. "I think…there should be a larger passageway over in that direction." She paused, thought. "It'll take us to another cavern…and that'll have a ledge of sorts that leads up past a lava bed. Beyond the lava bed…is a canyon that you'll have to cross over. Once on the other side, we should meet up with Sheila and Sophie." Chaney hissed and stopped talking, feeling winded. Power was still raging inside her, already working to stitch her back together, but it wasn't made for healing, so it was slow…and she was tired…

"Hold on," Warren said as he started out then, and Chaney swore.

"Sorry," Warren said, and Chaney noted distantly that his gait wasn't entirely even. He was tired too from that little episode.

They were silent after that as he followed her instructions to the tunnel on the other side of the cavern. This one—hallelujah!—was large enough that he didn't have to bend over as he passed through it. It didn't take long to reach the other side, but the heat in the chamber was so intense that Chaney felt a sheen of sweat overlapping the sweat she'd already been generating. Her burns were still searing her, causing more damage as time passed, and Warren was sweating from the exertion.

"I thought it was a good idea," she commented as he started walking up the ledge past the glowing orange pit of lava. When she looked up into his face, his skin glowed in its light and his eyes reflected it fiery color. She thought it was fitting, and liked the way the light played through the red highlights in his hair.

"What was? This game? You're a fucking idiot."

She chuckled. "We were doing fine until a certain pyro-maniac had a meltdown."

"We were doing anything but fine." Pause. "And I'd watch the name calling if I were you."

"We weren't exhausted, only barely wounded, and my shortcut already had us halfway there. And that name suits you."

"Yeah whatever."

"Seriously. I wasn't expecting to get fried while rescuing the enemy," she said. "This is so not going to be good for my image." When he didn't reply, she looked up.

The light from the lava flashed on and off his face as he passed pillars of stalactites and stalagmites that had formed together over the centuries. He was breathing heavily again, and he looked like he'd dragged himself through the mud. His long hair was matted and stringy, but…the rugged look was definitely good for those features.

She glanced ahead of them. There was the canyon.

Unfortunately, between them and the canyon were four young heroes, all waiting for the two of them to come out.

Warren sighed, and set Chaney down.

"I'm going to forfeit," he said, and turned to walk forward.

She sat, trembling, and watched as he approached the group. Her addled mind tried to gauge the look on their faces as they watched him approach, but the connection between her eyes and her brain seemed to be short-circuiting. Something about their expressions looked off. They looked too…too serious. The way they watched Warren approach reminded her of snakes right before they struck. Warren had noticed too, apparently, because he had slowed down, and was approaching them cautiously.

Chaney didn't see them move. One minute, they were all standing quietly, and the next, Warren was fighting for his life. The kids attacked him, and a kid who transformed into a metal man came barreling forward. Chaney lifted a finger, and he flew across the chamber toward her and slammed into the wall next to her, burying himself into the rock face by several yards. Warren was too busy to glance back and check on her. The other three supers had closed in on him. One was Stripes from Chaney's first day at lunch. He latched on to Warren and started to fling him across the chamber. The second, the fat boy, zoomed in toward him and hit him square in the stomach.

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	9. For the Love of Agony

When Stripes tossed Warren, Warren hit one of the walls before falling to the ground and throwing up whatever lunch he had eaten that day. Neither of those blows could have been taken without serious injury. Stripes' arms shot out, the Speedy fat kid closed in, and a mean looking kid turned into a large monster with scythes for limbs. They were all converging on Warren, and Chaney, though she had ample amounts of power left, could barely focus.

"Warren…" she whispered the warning. She watched as Warren pushed himself to his knees, slowly, looking as though it hurt to keep breathing. He moved one arm to hold his side, and looked up. He met her eyes, and a look of surprise covered his face. She had no idea what he was looking at…until she felt her hair yanked back, and her head was twisted up to look into the face of Phaden. He gave her hair another yank, and she was alternately shoved and yanked back onto her feet.

No. This is not how an agent goes down. Chaney snapped down the mental barriers she'd been trained to keep in place and dissolved his hand. She didn't have to see his hand to watch the millions of microscopic atoms break apart and dissolve into the air, leaving his arm bereft and bleeding. She even watched as the blood that poured out lifted into the air instead of falling and likewise dissolved into nothingness. Phaden screamed and dropped her, yanking what was left of his arm back and away from her. She dropped to the ground, unable to keep her balance with the disorientation that clouded her brain, and Phaden snarled something at the others. It sounded like an order…

She wasn't really sure though, because as dark closed in around her, her perceptions dimmed, and her senses shut off, until she couldn't feel anything.

Warren saw Chaney crumple to the ground, and he felt his temper flare. He was tired, and his whole body hurt. He felt weak—weaker than he'd felt in a very, very long time, and it was pissing him off. When he saw Phaden yank her up by the hair, his mind went blank, and all that registered in the empty expanse was the anger that flared to life. All he could think about was melting Phaden's head into a puddle of molten flesh, but then, when Phaden screamed and Chaney fell to the ground, all the thoughts that had disappeared came pounding back into existence. They crashed about and slammed into each other, causing him pain and feeding the heat in his mind until they all melted and ran together in blind fury. The headache that had been forming since the beginning of this idiotic game turned atomic, and Warren pushed himself to his feet as his body started trembling. His temper was roiling, pressing against every restraint he'd ever had on his temper and his powers.

Every now and then, every person gets pushed to the point of losing all self control. They still don't, for some reason, but they got pushed too damn close for anyone's comfort, and Warren was there now. He slammed a fiery punch into Lash's elastic face—which sent his head flying back like a punching bag attached to the bungee cord of his neck. Lash fell over and Speed took a running flip over Warren's extended arm as he swiped the heavy-set senior clear off his feet. The third guy tried to slash at Warren, but he just grabbed the kid's scythe-shaped arms and held on. His hands were red-hot and flaming, and the scythes started heating up. The kid screamed and tried to yank his arms away, but Warren held on and the scythes began turning a dangerous bright orange. A roundhouse hit Warren square in the jaw then, and Warren was knocked clear of the scythe kid. Phaden stepped forward and delivered another punch to Warren's gut. Warren moved to wrap his flaming arms around Phaden, but when he tried, his arms went right through the guy. Phaden threw another punch, and Warren had just enough time to dodge it before he tried to throw one of his own punches. His flaming fist went right through Phaden's suddenly insubstantial gut, and then Phaden solidified again and Warren's hand was stuck. Phaden's face contorted in pain, and he cried out as Warren's flames caught on his shirt.

Warren threw his other fist forward, but it went right through Phaden's face, and Phaden's fist connected with Warren's jaw again. Warren's other fist came free of Phaden's gut, and he flew back—just in time to be caught by Lash, who threw him into Speed's path. Warren was slammed into the ground, his flames snuffed out by Speed's roaring wind, and he groaned in pain.

"Had enough Peace?" Lash taunted. "You don't look so tough now!"

"Maybe he needs a girl to fight his fights!" Speed slowed down to add. They laughed, and Warren rolled over, calling his flames forth again, and aimed at Lash. He was so pissed of that he expected a helluvalot of power to come out. Phaden barked a command at Lash, and Warren snarled out an incoherent expletive, expecting to throw the biggest fireball he'd ever conjured into Lash's smug little face.

The column of flame that leapt forward, however, was actually less impressive than he was used to. In the past several weeks, Warren's powers had leapt into existence with the least provocation, living almost of their own will. They had flared to greater levels and burned more intensely than he had ever meant, even burning him, and yet now it was as if he had returned to normal. Warren ground his teeth together as Lash stretched his body out of the fireball's path, and braced himself as the scythe kid's limbs caught Warren under his arm and slung up into the path of Speed again—leaving a gash in Warren's side that almost made him scream. The sound that did come out of his mouth was so twisted and agonized that he barely recognized it—just before Speed's running tackle cut off his air with his impact and sent Warren flying again

Warren hit the stone wall again, his head smacking into the once-molten rock with such force that it deafened him, swallowing his temper in a wave of silence and exploding agony. Stars flashed across his eyes, blocking out nearly all of his vision. On the heels of the blinding light came darkness, and it almost claimed him, except for the jolt of his body hitting the ground again. Then, he felt something wrap around one of his arms, and Warren felt himself propelled through the air—flying towards who knew what. Then he felt fire arc across his back, searing a line of pain from his shoulder down to his side. Warren screamed, his voice hoarse as his body flipped and the world spun—making him the center of a gravitational vortex. He didn't even hit the ground. Speed rammed into his side again, and Warren flipped head over heels to land with one leg under him. He heard a crack, and he cried out again as more agony exploded in his leg. With all the pain, his inner fire had been overwhelmed—pushed into the recesses of his mind where he could barely reach it beyond his agony. The temper he'd felt a moment ago was long forgotten, along with the power it had summoned. He was barely able to stay conscious—it was four against one, and their attacks were coming too lightning fast to recover from. They were supers, and he might have super powers, but he still had a human body. He didn't have supernatural dexterity…

A fist landed in his face then, and Warren found himself lying flat on the ground, eyelids flickering, damaged nerves screaming all through his body as a shadow loomed over him.

"How's it feel, Peace? Personally, I like being on this side of the blows."

That had to be Phaden's voice. Warren groaned, and tried to shift his weight. He gasped roughly when the movement sent new waves of pain through him, and he lie still. Phaden said nothing, but Warren could just barely see him, still standing over Warren, just watching him.

"Phaden, let me finish him. He's almost out completely, and the game time's almost up…" that was Lash.

"Shut up Lash." Phaden again.

"Wait up Reever. Keep those scythes out of my face. Lash we can finish him off later. We kicked his ass good this time." Speed.

Lash sniggered. "True." He leaned over Warren. "How's it feel, you asshole? To be on the receiving end for once? You look half-dead, by the way. Remember that next time you're walking through Sky High. Speed and Lash kicked your ass."

"Yeah it's your turn to cower now!..." Speed started, and then an "Umph!" followed by "What the hell do you think you're doing, bastards?" Scythe kid… "We all brought him down!"

"Yeah but we did most of the work!" Lash snapped back, and the scythe kid said something else before jumping at him. The three were quickly throwing punches at each other. Phaden snarled at them to stop, and they backed off each other, glaring and angry.

"What the hell do you second-rate scum think you're doing? I'm not here to baby-sit through your sorry, weak-ass ego trips. Shut the hell up." Phaden turned back to Warren, and the others fell back to bickering.

"Reever, you slime-sucker, get your pointy grab pinchers out of my face!" Lash snarled as the scythe kid swung at him one more time.

Their voices drifted away for a moment, and Warren's mind folded in on itself. Reever…it must have been one of his scythes that had caught Warren across his back.

Warren's body felt like it was on fire. Every limb was burning with pain. He was burning up…his skin was crawling with the heat—he wouldn't be surprised if the hairs on his arms were shriveling up. They tended to do that a lot, when his injuries got severe. Granted, he hadn't had his butt kicked like this in years, but…

Wait, when _was _the last time he'd been this beat up? When was the last time anyone had dared gang up on him like this? Why did it matter?

Why was he thinking about this?

Cells. Electric collars. Doctors. Testing…training. Chaney…only, she'd been called something else then. Blood—his blood. Her blood. Someone else's blood…had he been fighting? The smell of burnt flesh filled Warren's nostrils then, and he remembered horror. Random images, fragmented and flashing started filling his mind in the absence of coherent thought, some dreamlike, others nightmarish. Some seemed to be of a huge metallic structure that he hadn't thought of in years, others of more young kids like him and Chaney. He couldn't seem to focus—part of his vision was still working just enough to see Phaden standing over him, a small device in his hand that he was talking to. His thoughts wandered about like lost sheep, unconnected. The only thing he seemed to be able to focus on was the flames that were covering his body—flames that weren't, but were. Flames that didn't really exist…

Warren groaned. Lash moved forward to sock him in the face, but Phaden put out a hand. Warren shifted, trying to remember why he hurt so damn bad, and why his head felt like it was splitting apart.

"_...to control it…"_

Was that a voice he remembered? Or was Phaden still speaking?

"…_tests are conclusive. The pyrokinetic affinity never moves into remission unless forced…activity is continual, even when the subject is unconscious…indicative of constant generation, I suspect that if the subject hadn't developed permanent restraints—perhaps a detainment or limitation reaction of sorts—then everything around him would be on fire at all times…the summoning would never stop…like fire incarnate…scary…"_

"…_training to control it…learn to override all restraints when necessary—on the field or off it…need to _learn_ how to lower mental barriers…use it…all of it…"_

Warren drifted dazedly out of his dream-like memories and focused in on the scene before him. Phaden was still talking to the others, and to his device. Warren started to fade out again when one thought solidified just long enough to catch his attention.

Phaden. Chaney. Where was she?

Looking up at his attackers, who were saying something to him, some of his forgotten rage resurfaced briefly, just long enough to re-ignite the nonexistent flames covering Warren's body. When it faded again, it took with it the headache. He'd been holding onto something with the mental equivalent of a death grip, and suddenly he felt it melt away. The tension he hadn't realized he had left his body, and flames—real flames this time—sprung into being all over him, and he slowly, painfully pushed himself to his feet.

When she regained consciousness, she wished she hadn't. Oh, for the blissful peace of oblivion…

Chaney groaned as she tried to push herself up onto one elbow. Her head swam, and she froze.

_Too fast,_ she realized, and held still while the ringing in her head began to recede. She looked up finally, and saw Warren getting to his feet. Wait…where was she? Why was Warren looking like he could only put weight on one leg? She looked away as Warren suddenly combusted, and the brilliance of the flames surrounding him nearly blinded her already straining eyes.

What was going on? They had been at school…then Sophie had pinned her with that ice dagger…then she'd challenged Sophie and Warren to a game of Save the…

Uh oh…

Chaney's head snapped back around—which nearly blinded her, throwing her bowels into the same chaos that threw her senses for sickening loops—and watched in horrified fascination, her mind numb, as suddenly all four of the kids that had been surrounding Warren were thrown across the cavern, screaming and covered in flames. Warren stepped forward, pulsating flames, his whole body engulfed. He limped for a couple of steps, but then he started putting more weight on his leg. Three more steps, and he was walking normally—except he was enveloped in an inferno. The chamber started filling with the flames, rolling outward, swallowing everything that got in their path. It took her a minute to realize that he was heading towards her.

Chaney watched the pulsating mass expand, nearly filling the whole chamber, and then contract, sucking back in on itself like a collapsing star. Warren's body sucked in the flames, and Chaney watched, squinting, as his features, covered in ashes, reappeared whole and clean beneath a deep, burning glow that filled the whole chamber. The ground around him was trembling, and several rocks were gravitating toward him, sucked in by the power of his presence. Chaney pushed herself up and forced herself to raise an arm. Slowly, she lifted her hand and pointed it, palm outward, at Warren, just as the biggest pulse of power she had felt in years exploded from him, crushing everything in the chamber that was unfortunate enough to get in the way. The four kids that had attacked them flew over to her and dropped at her feet as the spherical pulse reached her.

It reminded her of her move earlier, in the first cavern…

There was little she should be able to do against something without real mass. If she'd been wearing the inhibitor, she wouldn't have been able to see the millions of charged atoms flying at her, the power crackling between them glowing in her vision like a force field of light. She pressed back against it, holding it away from her and the other students, but it pressed against her will with a mind of its own.

Chaney held on to the edges of her control, desperately clutching at her concentration as the threads of her will began unraveling. Her head was pounding with pain—she was going to have one whopper of a headache after this—and she could barely see. Her vision was going black.

She had to change it. She couldn't hold it back. She had to change the energy—convert it. Chaney gathered everything she had left, her head splitting with the effort, her body draining by the second, and threw it outward, wrapping around Warren's power, letting it come, but morphing it in its path, so that by the time it reached her, the destructive pulse disintegrated and turned into a blinding, pulsating light.

When it faded, Chaney was on her knees, and Principal Powerpuff was running into the chamber with several other adults, and Warren was collapsing on the other side of the cave.

The last thing she saw as her vision went completely black was Sophie Freeze, beaten and bloody, walking into the chamber, her face frigid and unreadable.

There wasn't a wound on her.

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Sorry it's been so long. I have a busy life, what can I say?

Anyway, I decided to post this because of the people that have been reviewing despite my lack of updates. So, here's my thanks! You like? No like?


	10. Multiplying Migraines

A/N Thanks for the encouragement everyone! Please let me know how I can improve

CHAPTER 10

"…_have to keep a close eye on her too."_

"_It is incredible, I'll admit that…"_

"_Incredible? John, it's demonic! I've never seen anything like it. She just ripped them apart with a thought, and nothing was left. John! They were some of SIN's strongest agents!"_

"_I know. Calm down…"_

"_Calm down? John, why don't _you_ go clean up that room? There's nothing even remotely human in there. All that's left is blood and…a whole lot of…dissolved organic matter! Flesh isn't supposed to be _melted_ Hector!"_

_A sigh. "I've never seen anything like it. She's able to manipulate matter on the subatomic level—levitating is just the manipulation of a mass of atoms. It's only the surface ability. With just a little rearranging of atoms one matter becomes another and the whole world could be turned upside down." Another sigh._

"_John, we can't afford to let something like that get loose…"_

"_I know. We have to contain her. Put her on the list. Restrain her. Train her. If we don't, she could easily be used for chemical and biological warfare. There's no stopping a power like that…"_

When she started coming to, Chaney was laying across her bed, sprawled on her stomach, nude beneath a bit of gnarled sheet that had just barely managed to hang on to her lower midsection. She groaned as she tried to straighten and glanced back at her body. It was whole, amazingly, and unscarred from what she could see.

"Welcome to the world of the living," came a familiar voice, and Chaney raised reluctant eyes to catch sight of Sheila reading a book on her own bed.

Ugh. "Why am I naked?" Chaney asked.

"Because your body kept disintegrating whatever was touching it, and when you finally stopped that, I didn't feel like dressing you. For a while there, all you did was hover above your bed and turn everything around you to goo. We couldn't keep anything in here without it losing solidity, and most of the doctors that came in kept a good distance after the first two. I was the only one that could stay because I just regenerated my arm every time I got too close. What the hell are you, if you don't mind my asking?"

Chaney sighed, and pulled the sheet up as she rolled over. "I mind," she groaned.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like someone tried to roast me alive. Where's Warren? I'm going to skin him."

Sheila lowered her book as she watched Chaney. "Chaney, he killed three students."

Chaney's head snapped around. "What?"

"When they found you, you were covered in third degree burns. Took me two days to heal you, and that only because you were healing yourself too. The kids with you, though…three of them were dead and literally burnt to a crisp. Phaden was the only one that lived. The whole chamber was decimated, and the team was lucky to get everyone out." Sheila said softly, and Chaney felt the blood draining from her face.

Dead? She was certain they had been alive when she retrieved them. Had her shield been faulty? Maybe Warren was more powerful than anyone thought? Chaney raised a hand to her mouth, and Sheila slipped over to sit on the edge of the bed.

"It wasn't your fault," Sheila said as she slipped an arm around Chaney's shoulders.

Chaney shook her head. She hadn't wanted to come to this school because she had seen blood and torment in the real world. She'd been an assassin on several occasions—killing homicidal villains before they could destroy the world. The kind of hero that operated with blood on her hands—not like the idealized, TV-shown heroes that the public knew and adored. She'd known what it was like to feel helpless when her only childhood friend and ally was ripped away from her, and when friends lived and died in her arms. She'd hated the ignorant idealism this school represented. She'd hated it when she came, because they assumed that with enough training they could make heroes out of their gifted children without exposing them to the truth of life between super heroes and super villains. Maybe she'd just been jealous of their naïve innocence. Maybe she'd resented the protective haven that Sky High had become. Maybe she'd wished she had grown up in the same protective bubble they had.

They hadn't been the ones to get three people killed, however. She'd known that Warren was a danger, and she hadn't taken the right precautions. She hadn't even discovered who was after him. She hadn't been able to protect anybody.

What exactly had she been training for over the last fifteen years?

She'd failed.

"I've failed," she whispered dully, and Sheila shifted to wrap both her arms around Chaney. She kissed the side of Chaney's head, and reached down to hold her hand.

"You can cry if you want," she said, but Chaney just sat dully, staring at the far wall. She hadn't broken down in years, and she wasn't sure if she could anymore.

"What were their names?" Chaney asked.

"Lash, Speed, and a kid named Jake—or Reever."

Chaney dropped her head into her hands, and remembered again the conversation she had overheard at the lab years before.

_Demonic…_

Yeah. That was what people thought of the kids that had the real power. It wasn't all fun and games. It was terrifying, and even as she thought that, Chaney realized she was lucky that nothing else had happened while she was recovering. At least she hadn't killed anyone. What on earth must Warren be feeling right then? It was probably the worst thing that could have happened.

At least Sheila had been there to heal her, but what about Warren? She'd been the one to start this damn game…he was probably pissed with her.

"Thanks," Chaney whispered.

"Anytime." Sheila paused, and then dipped her head down to lean it on Chaney's shoulder. "You know, you should really stay away from Warren. He's probably going to be expelled for this."

Chaney groaned. "I hadn't even thought of that." She pulled her knees up and hugged them. "He shouldn't be the one expelled. I started the game, and it's my fault. I can't believe I fucked up so bad." She buried her face in her arms.

"Shh. You need to keep resting." Sheila dropped a kiss on Chaney's bare shoulder, and Chaney turned to look at her, but Sheila's head was turned away and had settled against her back. Chaney was suddenly very aware of the arms around her midsection.

"Sheila…"

"Shut up. I've been worried sick for the past four days and the least you can do is let me hold on to you for a few minutes," Sheila said. Chaney could feel her warm breath drifting across her skin, and it gave her goose bumps.

"You should have seen how badly you were burned," Sheila whispered. "Half of your suit was burnt off and the skin beneath it was all black and red and shriveled. You smelled like charred meat. I think I threw up at least six times, and Powers could barely look at you. I thought there was no way I could heal you back to the way you were, but you were doing half the work yourself. I reached into your system and it didn't matter how much power I drew on to fix you, there was always more. And then when you stabled, your body wouldn't even stay strapped to a table. The table would dissolve, and anything within three feet turned into floating liquids. Including the doctors that tried to treat you. I had to rebuild at least three limbs, and I was freaking out the whole time. Anything touching you completely disintegrated. And you weren't even trying. You scared the shit out of me."

Chaney stared at the far wall. "I'm sorry." That was all she could say.

Two more days passed before Chaney was allowed out of her room. Sheila wasn't exactly a fusser, but when she gave an order…Chaney felt it was in her best interest to obey. So she stayed bedridden long after she felt able enough to get up.

As she walked down the halls though, heading for class with hands tucked in cargo-pants pockets, she felt hundreds of reproaching eyes on her. It was her challenge, and her upgrade to the game that had killed the students, and every gaze that she met said as much. Whispers drifted around her—behind her, in front of her…right at her elbow. Sheila walked by her side, but nobody paid her any attention. The air in the hallways was almost stifling with the contempt that hung around her.

Chaney sucked in a deep breath, and shut them out the same way she shut everything out on a mission—everything but the target. Right now, the target was the classroom. It was going to be complicated from here on out. Warren's powers had killed the kids, but she had initiated the dangerous game. She had been the one to live, protecting herself and failing to protect the other kids. Now, she was the one waltzing into class with barely a bruise on her. Never mind that the dead kids had been the school rejects. Bullies whose guts were universally hated. Warren was the hottie who had been loved and lusted after for four years. Now he had turned into some kind of twisted devil, and his bad-boy façade was real. Chaney was a convenient target. She was the one who was still alive.

She wondered, though, when some of the whispers said "_…monster…_" whether they were really contemptuous, or just spooked. Two heroes had just shown a level of power the likes of which this school had never seen before, and Chaney doubted that the story had gone around in a favorable light. Principal Powers wasn't the type to praise.

Class was even worse. Chaney doubted that anyone was paying attention to the teacher. Yours truly was on display in the center of the room—subject numero uno. The clock trudged along like her pulse, wishing it could either cease and desist or split for the nearest exit. The teacher seemed to speak in slow, carefully enunciated syllables, as though he were talking to two-year-olds—or was trying to make time drag. Chaney scribbled her notes and refused to look around. Refused to act like she was listening to the whispers. Refused to let her face reflect her discomfort.

Public censure she could handle. Her own guilt, however, added to that public contempt, was another matter.

Her ring vibrated several times.

She ignored it.

Every tick of the clock's hands seemed to echo.

_TICK,Tick,tick…TOCK,Tock,tock…TICK,Tick,tick…TOCK,Tock,tock…_

_Shut up._ She itched to dissolve it, her powers pressing against her control like a reservoir against a river dam. Without the inhibitor, the only limitation she had on her powers was her own self-control…and that was wearing thin. She'd nearly gone mad as a child—until they had found her and given her the inhibitor chip. She'd hidden in a closet for weeks and tried to hold it all in, because she didn't want to hurt anybody. They'd trained her how to control her powers, so it was easier now, but still…they would never be easy to contain.

Though, any move she made now would be noted by the students. Damn.

Chaney rubbed her jaw and glanced around out of the corner of her eye. Notes were being passed around, with shady looks thrown covertly in her direction. Chaney moved her gaze back to the teacher, settling further down into her seat.

She had failed. It was unlikely her cover was still intact. Warren had blood on his hands. Chaney hadn't discovered the spy, and three kids were dead.

Damn.

When the clock chimed out the hour, Chaney had to force herself not to be the first out the door. Once in the hallway, however, she split. She slipped down a hallway, opening doors with a wave of her hand, then slipping outside to walk across the school grounds. A paper plate was flying toward the air toward her, and with another wave of her hand she dissolved it. She needed to see Warren.

One kid walked past her, shouldering her aside. Another kid did the same a moment later. Chaney glared at a third group of people that came too close, looking hostile. They steered clear and she ducked around the side of a building to disassemble her body and drift out of the building, her mind holding her molecules together as she left the grounds and reassembled in the sky away from the school.

Yet another level of her power she had not revealed, she thought bitterly. Atomic manipulation—the moving, reordering and disbanding of atoms. Whether on the atomic level or at the level of the substance they created. Her only limitation was that she had to know what she was manipulating. She had to understand it, and know the shapes and properties she could make. She had to know what she was changing, and what she was changing it into—or what she was just moving, and where she was moving it to.

A demonic gift, according to some.

She sighed as she looked down at the town where Warren lived.

"You have some pretty impressive abilities," came a voice, and Chaney turned to see Will floating next to her.

She didn't answer. Just looked back down at the small town.

"I don't think either of you are murderers, and neither do the rest of your friends, just so you know," Will said softly.

That just goes to show how well he knew her. "Does that change what happened?" Chaney asked, her tone as bitter as her expression.

"No, but Layla said she'd skin me if I let you think it was your fault. You and Warren have some kick ass powers, but any deaths that happened were accidental."

Chaney sighed. "Don't be so naïve. I appreciate your ability to forgive, but deaths like those are the fault of those who caused them. Besides, I'm not supposed to let accidents like that happen."

"Weird thing to say. Who do you think you are, God?"

Chaney snorted. "I guess I'm trying to be. I was certainly raised to believe I could make anything happen. I mean, hell, I can manipulate just about anything with mass. And that counts just about everything in existence. What exactly is _beyond_ my power?"

Will crossed his arms. "Friends. Life. Love. The cheesy, stereotypical chick-flick stuff that nobody takes seriously."

Chaney sighed. True… "What ever happened to Phaden?"

Will reached up to scratch his nose. "Well, actually we're not sure. He won't talk to anybody, but every time someone disses either you or Warren he glares at em hard enough to put a hole through steel." He paused. "There was another kid too."

Chaney's glanced over. "That so?"

Will was looking pretty serious—for Will. "Yeah. He was watching for other supers to come along, to make sure no one stopped them from ganging up on you and Warren."

"So it was planned."

"Yeah. The guy's pretty sorry. He was the one that told the Principle about it. Phaden might be suspended."

Chaney nodded. Knowing it was planned should have made her angry, but now that things had gone so wrong, all she could feel was a yawning emptiness where her temper should be. "How did they die?"

Will hesitated. She glanced over and spotted the look of reluctance on his face.

"Will. How did they die?"

Will sighed in resignation. "Magenta's pretty tight with the nurse, so she heard that they actually died from ruptured arteries. The explosion was what killed them, not their burns."

"What did it look like, when you came in?"

"Like a supernova had let loose in an enclosed space. Everyone was amazed when they stormed into the cavern. All the walls were crushed, and Warren was standing in the center of a crater that was almost twice the size of the gym. There was light everywhere, just hanging in the air even though there was nowhere it could have been coming from. You were out cold, Warren was out cold, Lash, Speed, and Jake were…"

Chaney reached a hand up to her head. "Okay thanks. I'm going to go talk to Warren now."

"You know where to find him?"

"Yeah."

"Well, see ya then."

Chaney nodded, and started down. Will sprang forward.

"Oh, Chaney!"

Chaney paused and looked up, and Will looked suddenly sheepish.

"I don't exactly like Sophie Freeze too much…and well, I think she's been really hard on him since this all happened…"

Chaney raised an eyebrow. "…And?"

"Well, if you were to…um, you know…kick her out of the picture or something…"

Chaney grinned. It was interesting hearing this from a guy. Must be Layla's influence. "You wouldn't stop me. Is that what you're trying to say?"

Will shrugged. "Stop you from doing what?"

Chaney nodded thoughtfully. "I'll think about it."

Will shrugged again. "Yeah. Well, see ya." He flew back to the school then, and Chaney looked back down at the town.

So Sophie was being a bitch, huh? Hmm. Suddenly her temper was back.

Her ring vibrated again. She still didn't answer. She knew what they were going to say.

Chaney sighed and dropped her control to plummet toward ground level. She was depressed, and the plunge gave her a rush that she desperately needed. She fell for several minutes, reveling in the feel of gravity sucking her in like water into a sponge. Then when she had nearly hit the ground, she hit the brakes. She slowed herself and touched down, falling into a crouch that ate the last of her momentum.

That was _way _better than sky diving, she thought with a smile. She felt a little better now.

Chaney looked around. She had touched down near the Paper Lantern, but at this time of day she doubted Warren was there.

She set off in the direction of his apartment. She didn't have the patience to walk, and she didn't want to be seen, so she broke down her body again and flew through the air to reassemble at his doorstep. She didn't knock—again—but tried the lock. It wasn't latched.

That wasn't good. Chaney opened the door with a thought, her hands tucked into her hoody's front pocket, and walked in.

He was sprawled on the beat up-looking couch, arms crossed, staring out the window.

"Get out," he said simply.

Chaney ignored the order and walked over to plop down in front of the couch, next to his shoulder, with her back to him. She didn't know what to say, so she just kept her mouth shut.

Minutes passed, and neither of them said anything. The weight of the air around them kept reminding her of the feeling of terror she had had when Warren's powers demolished the cavern. It reminded her of the move she'd made in the first cavern, but so much more potent. Like a grenade's detonation versus an atom bomb. The difference had been astronomic, and something about the configuration and control had been solely Warren's. She'd been terrified she was going to die, and slightly less afraid for the lives she was protecting. The four guys had been within her shield. She was sure of it—but apparently Warren's attack had broken through before she realized it. She could have sworn she raised her shields in time, but…Chaney swallowed against the stinging in her throat, and blinked against the same feeling in her eyes.

She was _not_ going to break down here. She didn't want Warren to think she had just come to get pity. She wouldn't sink that low—she wouldn't even let him think that she would sink that low.

So she kept her head turned away from him when the tear fell down her face, and remained silent so that her voice wouldn't betray her.

She was so damn dumb. So pathetic. She'd been so degrading walking into this school, but at least it had been saved when Royal Pain attacked. Chaney the Loser Agent hadn't been around, and Warren had been fine back then. He'd just been a flamethrower. Now…she had no idea what he was now.

Warren pushed himself up off the couch and grabbed her arm. He started dragging her toward the door.

She dug her heels in, and he turned on her when he realized she wasn't going anywhere by force.

"Get the _hell_ out of my house!" He bellowed. "I never want to see you within three feet of me ever again!"

The tear had dried already, fortunately. Chaney swallowed and narrowed her eyes at him as she yanked her arm away.

"I'm not leaving! Not until—"

"Until what? Until you've gotten someone else killed? I wasn't the only one who caused people to die back then, remember?!" His face was set in an infuriated expression of denial. He hated her right then, and she was glad. Hatred made her guilt a little easier to bear.

"Back then? That's funny, because I seem to recall nearly being blasted away by a mini supernova long before I ever had a chance to wreak any real damage!" Chaney ground her jaw together.

He fired off a loud, contemptuous laugh. "Real damage? You mean like the three guys that are now dead because you had to prove something to the whole school? Are you satisfied now? Has your ego been sufficiently bloated?"

"My EGO? You think that was all about my ego?" Chaney faced him down, her own fury rising. She shoved her finger at the earring he was still wearing. "Maybe my ego should have just let you burn yourself to death! For all that it got me, I could've just avoided one more in a long line of near-death experiences thanks to you!"

"Oh and you would be pretty familiar with near death experiences, wouldn't you? Or maybe not so near ones." He sneered.

She flipped him off. "Keep it up, pretty boy, and I'll finish what I interrupted the other night!" Her voice was getting harsher. It grated against the back of her throat. If she kept this up, it was going to break altogether—along with her self control.

He closed in on her, his expression challenging. She was already against a wall—it didn't matter that she didn't give ground. He had her pinned. His voice dropped as he towered over her, using his menacing presence to intimidate her. "Oh so now you're threatening me?"

"What goes around comes around." She snarled. He kept getting closer, trying to intimidate her into backing down. She didn't move. "Or don't you recall?"

He laughed again, and she had the distinct impression that he was barely holding himself in check. One part of her saw his fists clenching—another part almost hoped he'd push it that far, just to give her an excuse to strike him back. "Don't I recall?" He asked. "That's a funny choice of words, actually. Being that I have no idea how my damn life began anymore. Ever since I saw you, weird images have been popping up in my head that I don't remember living through." He was tensing. He looked like a mad panther who was facing down his worst enemy, and he was right on top of her. The way his eyes were drilling into hers was giving her chills—for a weird moment though, she couldn't tell whether they were chills of fear or elation. Her pulse was pounding in her ears, and a thought flashed through her mind: if he didn't gut her soon, her fury was going to get confused with something very different. He kept talking, and she could feel his breath on her face. "Blood and pain keep getting mixed around in there somewhere, and I keep seeing this little face that looks a scary hellova lot like you. Exactly how long have you been ruining my life, Chaney Chai? No wait, that's not even your real name. Exactly how long have you been ruining my life, Soo Yang?"

Chaney froze, and Warren looked like a hungry predator that had just cornered his prey. Only he wasn't gloating just yet.

Soo Yang. It had been a while since she'd heard that name.

Warren's lips stretched back, but there was no humor in his smile. "That's right. That damn explosion messed something up in my head. I don't know what I'm seeing, or if it's anything I really remember. It's more like flashes of a nightmare—except for…" he trailed off, and she watched the muscles in his jaw work.

Silence fell for a moment, and Chaney tried to make her heart calm. He remembered? The chip must have short circuited.

"How much do you remember?" She whispered. His typical glower deepened into another scowl.

"Enough. I remember getting stuck with a lot of needles and stuck in a lot of machines. I remember going through hell on earth when they trained me, and I remember my muscles burning, and throwing up all the time, and doing things people should never be able to do…and I remember you being there." His scowl slipped for a moment then, and confusion and uncertainty took its place—just for a moment—and then he smoothed out his features into a blank expression that could have resembled the Antarctic in temperature.

Chaney snorted. "You know, for a pyrokinetic, you can be awfully cold sometimes. Even back then."

She was certain she heard his teeth grind together.

"So that's what you're here for? To take me back to that hellhole? I should have guessed." He backed away from her, and opened his eyes. "Nothing good ever comes from the fanatics. I should have learned that when my father was thrown in prison by one."

Chaney swallowed against the pain in her throat, and his voice lost its edge for a minute, sounding forlorn as he asked, "Why did you challenge me and Sophie to that game?"

She swallowed again, and rubbed sweating palms against her jeans. When she spoke, it was so low she was surprised he heard it. "I needed to know how much control you had over yourself. I learned what I needed to." Her voice was steady. It was always steady. Damn her self-control.

"You could have learned that in a regular game."

Chaney shrugged again and looked away. She hugged herself, feeling cold.

Hey, she'd known it was coming. The past was not the present, and the little boy was not the man. His memories had been erased. He had moved on. She had been left, still a lab rat. Still a favored weapon of destruction. Think the good guys are too good to use people? Guess again. He'd been lucky. She'd been stuck where she was. It wasn't until later that she had learned how to make something of her situation. She had lived in a hell. Now she lived in the moment, and where she went, there was only room for one.

It was better that way anyway.

Warren gripped her upper arms and shook her. "Answer me Chaney!"

Chaney looked back at him. Now he knew her as the messenger of those people—the people who had erased his memories. Of course he was going to resent that. Of course he was going to resent being kept in the dark, especially after it resulted in losing control of his powers—which, in turn, resulted in the killing of three high school guys.

He probably believed that, if he had known, this accident could have been avoided. He blamed her for not telling him, and for instigating this game to begin with. He had probably already made the connection between her assignment and her challenge.

She swallowed, her throat constricted. She would not lose control. She would not cry. Tears were not worth the water they wasted. They solved nothing.

Warren was shaking. His grip on her arms was painful—almost desperate. Chaney took a deep breath and closed her eyes to shut out his gaze, and slipped back into her work self. Her muscles unknotted, and she was focused again. By the time she opened her eyes, she had put her feelings in the deepest, darkest box she could find and shut the lid.

If she had to kill every last emotion in her body, she would not break over something like this. Warren was not the kind of guy to forgive easily. He had never been known for his generous nature, no matter what his fans wanted to believe. Will Stronghold was the first to ever earn Warren's friendship after a long-standing grudge.

So, for any person stupid enough to get on his bad side, there was little hope of gaining favor.

"I suppose then that I should stop trying to justify myself and just let you think I'm the bad guy." She told him, her tone as Arctic as his expression. She shrugged. "It doesn't really matter to me. Tell yourself all you want that I'm the one who killed those guys. You had nothing to do with it. I goaded you. I called the game. I seduced you in that little tunnel. Then I failed to cover them. It was all me. Whatever makes you sleep at night. Meanwhile, I have a job to do, with or without your consent." It wasn't killing her to say it. She was surprised…but then, she was so removed from the situation that she shouldn't have been. "Stop attacking me for five seconds and answer me this: why did the pulse you sent out look so much like the one we made together in the first cavern?"

Warren stared at her, blank-faced, and shrugged. She noted, absently, that he had slouched in on himself somewhat. He looked frustrated still, and he leaned against the wall to the kitchen. Resigned.

"I don't know. I don't even know how that power was related to pyrokinetics. My powers have been going haywire for a while. And as you probably saw when you broke into my home the other night…" he glanced around the apartment pointedly, "I've been looking at all sorts of science books lately, trying to figure out what the hell is going on. I've been wondering if maybe I'm not a pyrokinetic after all. Maybe I'm something else that allows me to be a pyrokinetic."

Chaney shrugged. "It's a possibility. Actually, it's likely that you're something more along the lines of an energy generator."

Warren flashed her a sharp look, and Chaney spun on her heel and marched into his room. He followed, and under other circumstances, Chaney might have grinned with mischievous glee at the convenient situation. Now, however, her face looked etched in marble, if what she saw in the mirror was any indication.

She retrieved his astronomy book and shoved it at him.

"I think that what you've been able to do so far is generate just enough energy to create combustion. Now you're generating enough to crush caves. In both cases, the energy made resembles solar power. Power like a star's, which is based in combustion. What made the change?"

"Probably the same thing that made me lose what control I had."

"And that would be?"

"Nothing that concerns you."

She shouldn't have cared about the ice in his voice, or the look in his eyes, but something in her chest constricted in pain when he turned away from her. Chaney felt her shoulders sag, and she felt her will to fight draining out of her.

She turned away herself and raised a hand to her face. Her work face was more than just a mask. It was an emotionless side that she retreated to whenever she had an unpleasant job to do or a person to face that she never wanted to see again. It also sapped her will though, and left her in a state of limbo where nothing mattered anymore. It got tiresome, and sometimes, it slipped. Like it was trying to now. Chaney crossed her arms and stared at the door.

"You know, your _dad_ had it more together than you do," she said, her voice disturbingly uneven, and she turned to leave.

He caught her arm and whirled her back around. "What does my dad have to do with this?" He snarled, the fury back in his face, mixed with an almost desperate hunger. "What do you know about him?"

Chaney kept her gaze cool, and her tone fell flat again—it was the only safe tone for her to hide behind. "Enough to know you're the failure in the family. Not him."

She didn't try to pull away, and didn't break eye contact with those intense, chocolate brown eyes. She faced him down with her accusation, and he had no choice but to be hit by the full force of her pitch.

He let go of her arm, his attempt to hide how shaken he was only evident when he swallowed. Twice.

He wasn't a failure. He wasn't even a wuss. She'd been impressed with the way he had held up through years of contempt from the general hero population. He hadn't turned into a serial killer. He hadn't even regressed into complete rebellion. He was rough around the edges, but he was strong enough to remain a half-way decent guy.

That took way more strength than anyone realized.

Chaney swallowed too, because she had to work not to take back the words she had just uttered. She fought dirty, but she almost always got the needed result. The end did not justify the means, but she used the excuse anyway. She'd face the consequences later, when she was alone in her room.

Warren closed his eyes and crossed his arms, no doubt trying to recover from the gut punch she'd dealt him.

"Did you know him?" He asked.

Chaney saw the hand coming through the prison bars again, cupping her face. It was an old, old memory.

"Yes."

Warren took a deep, shuddering breath. "My powers started going haywire three years ago, when Royal Pain attacked the school. I started seeing a lot of strange things, and sometimes little fires would start when I didn't mean them to. The visions were the worst part, but they didn't happen very often. Things didn't start getting really annoying until about six months ago. Then the dreams started, and my control started really slipping. I've gotten a rep for being moodier than ever in the last few months. The fire's started burning me. It's never done that before. And I've started doing other things, like blowing light bulbs whenever I walk by. I've gone through three comforters in the last two months, and my homework goes up in flames half the time. All I have to do is pass my hand over my dinner sometimes and it's burnt. Also, every time I walk by a plant, it shrivels up and dies. There are a ton of other things like that, but none of them have ever been a problem before."

He looked down at his folded arms, and one side of his mouth quirked upwards. "I've lost count of the dishes I've melted at the Paper Lantern. Li's convinced I've turned into a complete klutz. I honestly have no idea how it all started, but it's been hell trying to keep it under control. When Sophie started going out with me, things settled down a little, but then when you came they went ballistic again."

Chaney cocked an eyebrow. "Me."

"Yes, you." He looked up. "Remember the visions I told you about? There was this one kid I kept seeing, and it was a little girl who always seemed to be covered in either tears or blood. You have no idea how disturbing it is to dream about that every night, and then see the grown version appear in front of my eyes one day."

Chaney felt the muscles in her jaw twitch. She looked around the room, looking everywhere except at him, and licked her suddenly dry lips.

"Did you really know him?" Warren asked again.

Chaney looked back at him. Those full lips looked even fuller when he sulked, and his dark eyes were the perfect shade to reflect the whole 'inner turmoil' look. She sooo knew how to spot it…and yet, she found her resolve melting like butter on a hot toast.

Even her work face, apparently, had a few cracks in its defense.

"Yes, I really knew him." She didn't know why she was whispering so softly, but she couldn't seem to speak any louder. "He was one of those whose power was so great it became an entity in and of itself. When two minds are in one body, the war that goes on drives them both mad, and eventually one of them gets booted out. He was mad when he went on his rampage, but a corner of his mind was still his. When the prison cells repressed his powers, he regained a lot of his mind. He's very…angsty." She smiled to herself. "Noble, yet broken—and he's mean, but he'll never quit regretting the lives he took."

"_Tough it out, kid."_ He'd told her when Warren was let out of the labs. "_Tough it out, for all our sakes." _She had just kept crying, and he wiped a tear away with his thumb. "_Maybe someday you'll see him again."_ And then she'd looked up, and saw a tear running down his face. She might see Warren again, but the father would never see his son. He'd never been allowed to speak with or even set eyes on his son, and it was unlikely that he ever would.

Warren was really shaken. He walked over to his bed and sat down, then bent over to put his head in his hands. Chaney watched him in silence for a moment, fighting herself, trying to keep her work face in place, wishing she could walk over and wrap her arms around him.

Instead, she turned to leave.

"Wait."

Her arm was caught. When she looked down, she saw a strong fist wrapped around her wrist, and Warren looked up. His eyes were forlorn, and for a moment, she saw it. Her mention of his father had been the last straw, on top of a long string of events that could have broken the spirit of anyone lesser. Chaney felt her barriers breaking down as she remembered, suddenly, that he was the cause of three young men's deaths—and that there was no way he could not be suffering from this. More than anyone else, he was living with the guilt of their death.

"Gods…" Chaney took her eyes of him and swallowed, but didn't pull away. Warren tugged on her sleeve slowly, letting her know what he was doing, and pulled her down onto his lap to wrap his arms around her and bow his head against her shoulder. Chaney leaned her head back against him and reached up to slip her fingers into his hair.

She knew she should remain silent right then, but there was something she needed to ask him…

"What happened in the tunnel Warren?"

He took a deep breath against her neck. Was it just her, or did it sound shaky? He didn't answer immediately, but when he did, his voice was low and feral. Soft, yet…she had a passing urge to get away as fast as she could. It was creepy, but beautiful, so she stayed. "I lost control."

"No." She dipped her head to see his face. "Before that. Why didn't you push me off?"

Warren lifted his head then, and with hers bent close, they were all but breathing each other's air. She wasn't expecting the look in his eyes as they dropped from her gaze to her mouth, almost daring her to give a violent reaction—pull away, slap him…whatever. The look in his eyes had become despairing. The world had fallen out from beneath his feet, and the one thing he had been able to trust—his own powers—had betrayed him. He had killed. He had no control over himself, and no control over what happened to those around him.

For a moment, Chaney wondered what it must feel like—how terrified he must be, that he could take lives and was losing control over the one thing that was as much a part of him as his own arm. She could feel how tense his muscles were, and doubted, somehow, that it had anything to do with their proximity. He probably had his powers in a lockdown, which any super would know was like shutting off a part of themselves—and was probably even more difficult for Warren since, as Chaney recalled, the tests that the labs had taken when he was a child indicated that his powers were continually active. Unlike most supers, whose powers could be easily turned on and off at will, his took more willpower and more headaches just to repress.

Chaney felt a stitch of fear knot itself into being around her heart. Part of her was still warning her against getting too close—again—but the rest was leaning in to make the same move on him that he'd made in the tunnel. Her tongue teased his upper lip, pulling him in, and he kissed her back. One hand moved up to hold her head, and she tasted the desperation behind his kiss as his lips claimed hers harshly. One arm tightened around her midsection, and she noticed that he was shaking.

It wasn't the shaking of a nervous young teenager that had never given a girl a kiss before. It felt more like the after affects of shock, and her hand on his chest could feel his rampaging heartbeat. This kiss, she knew, wasn't as much about passion and longing as it was about a desperate need for comfort.

Maybe that was why she couldn't pull away. The need for another—whether as a shoulder to cry on or the calming nearness of another body, she couldn't have said. Now, though, she couldn't pull away. No matter that the fear she felt was twisting into an ever more potent knot, and that it was getting itself confused with and fighting against the profound sense of relief that she was feeling.

Damn emotions. They both needed this, she realized just as the last thoughts in her head fizzled out of being.

Someone started thumping on the door.

Warren turned to look at the door, and Chaney realized that one of her hands was gripping a fistful of his shirt like her life depended on it. She let go abruptly as Warren started lifting her off his lap. She stood up, and he walked out. Neither of them said anything, and she turned to pace across his room, berating herself.

Whywhy_why_WHY couldn't she learn her lesson? She'd already been burned by the fire she toyed with. She shouldn't be trying again. Shouldn't want to.

Chaney swallowed again as she got a glimpse of her oriental face in the mirror. Smooth, rounded features…black hair…Soo Yang…she shut her eyes and turned away, refusing to look any longer, refusing to let her thoughts start down that path. It had been so long since she'd heard that name.

Warren was opening the door when she walked out. She wasn't sure why it had taken him so long—she'd heard his sigh from the room, but hadn't heard the door open til now. "Come on in," Warren said, then glanced back at her. "Everyone else does."

Will barged in, looking flustered and wild-eyed. "You guys! The fifth guy, Jake—the one that was a lookout for the other guys in the caverns—he's dead!"

Warren went still in the doorway, and Chaney felt the blood in her veins turn to ice.

A/N I love cliffhangers )


	11. Recall

Hello all,

THANKS!!! for the reviews =) I never would have continued this story otherwise. So here's to you...it's short, but that's because there's more coming. I'm working on Chapter 12 so it shouldn't take too long to get up. Btw, just a side comment, but I love the reviews where people are trying to figure out what's happening next. It's really fun when I find out that you're drawing the exact conclusions I hoped you would =P

CHAPTER 11

They had barely left the building when a searing pain ripped through her hand, up her arm and through her brain. Her whole body jerked with the force of it, and her knees buckled. A pulse exploded out from her hand, freezing everything around her in place. Warren had paused halfway through a stride, Will in the middle of turning back to check on her. Chaney's hand shook with the pain and she desperately tried to suck in air, trying to recover the breath that suddenly seemed impossible to catch. She hissed in pain and closed numb fingers around the aching wrist, trying to cut off enough blood flow to lessen the pain.

What the hell was going on?

"This feature hasn't been needed for quite some time. It surprises me that you would be the one to need it, Yang."

The voice would have sent a chill through her, if she hadn't been in so much pain. She knew they'd have to take drastic measures sooner or later. Her cover had been blown, and she wasn't responding to their attempts to recall her. For all they knew, she may have gone rogue…

She had hoped, however, that she had at least a few more hours before they used force.

A hologram appeared in front of her, and Chaney forced her eyes up to meet the cold blue gaze of Razing, her superior and Director of SIN's field operations.

"Yang. We've been trying to contact you for the past six days." The face on the hologram was a CG creation, she knew, but that didn't make it any less intimidating. Razing's direct appearance could only mean one thing: bad news. Really, really bad news. He never, ever had direct contact with his agents. Too dangerous.

Chaney chuckled. "Sir…I was hoping to meet you when you handed me a Congressional Medal of Honor."

"Not going to happen now, Yang. You've screwed up. You're off the mission, and when you finally get your ass back here, or, probably more accurately, when we finally get your ass back here, it'll be a while before you're even allowed on a mission again. If ever. We won't condone your actions thus far."

Chaney shrugged. "The cavern was a little much…"

"Not the cavern, Yang. The part where your chip was removed. You were under standing orders NEVER to remove it. Your cover has now been blown because of its removal, and you haven't responded to any of our attempts to contact you. What were you expecting us to think?"

Chaney said nothing.

"We want you back now, Yang. We're sending in two more agents to take over. If you resist, their orders are to use force." The blue eyes narrowed. "This is for your good as well, Yang. For all we know, you may have become a target too."

Chaney let loose a caustic snort. "I knew that when I started the game." She pushed her way back to her feet. "Sorry to disappoint you, sir, but I'm not done here. I can't leave."

"Don't disobey orders, Yang. The stakes are too high. We're having trouble across the globe with villains converging on every public office of government. The Pentagon was demolished the day before yesterday. Seven hundred men and women were killed. The Moscow Kremlin and at least three city halls have been destroyed in Russia, and the President of Russia is in hiding. The Chinese PRC vice president is _missing_, and Japan's Prime Minister has turned out to be one of the world's top ten most powerful and influential super villains—"

"Oh come on, everyone knew about the Prime Minister."

"Shut up Yang. I wasn't finished. Even the European Union has been split due to the corruption of several key figures in their government. We're looking at the next world WAR here, Yang, and it's not just Warren Peace that we're trying to protect. There are underground supers around the world that are in hiding because their powers are too volatile. We can't afford to have rogue agents re-thinking their priorities."

Chaney rolled her eyes. "I'm not re-thinking my priorities. They're the same as they've always been."

Razing sighed. "Yang, I don't want to lock you up."

Unfortunately, she knew this was going to happen. She'd been prepared for that possibility. "Like I said, I'm sorry to disappoint you sir, but I'm not coming back."

She melted the ring then, and the hologram disappeared as the released energy it had held pulsed outward with a force that almost knocked her over. The world returned to its regular pace, and Will held his hand out to her.

"Hurry up, we need to get back," he said, and she reached out to take his hand.

"You're shaking," Will said, and Chaney glanced over at Warren.

"This situation has just gotten a lot scarier," she said.


	12. Inconvenient attacks

A?N See? I told ya there was more. I will seriously TRY to update fairly regularly from now on...particularly if you guys are still interested =)

Chapter 12

Chaney, Warren, and Will shoved their way through the crowd of students, trying to get a glimpse of the body bag that was being loaded onto the back of the school bus. Rain had started falling, but there was a crowd gathered around the bus regardless of the ever-darkening skies and the threatening rumble of distant thunder. Sheila waved Chaney over, and Chaney fought her way to her friend's side.

"What the _hell_ happened?" Chaney shouted over the loud chattering among the students. There were several bleeding hearts sobbing their heads off, but Chaney was terrified. What was going on? Could this death be related to the others?

Sheila shook her head. "I have no idea. They're saying he got into a fight with one of his buddies and something went wrong."

Chaney looked over at a kid with black and orange striped hair sitting dejectedly among the adults that were surrounding him. He had a tattoo down one side of his face, and both a nose ring and lip ring—the latter of which he was chewing on.

"What's his power?" Chaney asked.

"He can hide knives and stuff in his skin. And his name, by the way, is Raj. I'm not sure how, but he makes his knives and then stores them inside of him. Though, they're more like laser knives, so maybe he makes them with his life force or something like that." Sheila leaned into Chaney, her shoulder fitting nicely against Chaney's side. She leaned close and whispered in Chaney's ear. "Raj was apparently saying a lot of nasty stuff about you, and the other guy tried to defend you. He got one of Raj's knives to his head though, and he died."

Chaney ground her jaw together as she watched the bus take off. She had been put on this job because her higher ups had big hopes for her, and had given her this chance to redeem herself for a mistake she'd made just six short months earlier. Sadly, it seemed that once pierced, even mental armor never really returned to its former solidity. She'd fucked up. Fucked up big time—then, and now.

She looked over at Warren, Will, and Sheila…then back at Warren. There were two more agents on their way, and she doubted that this little gang had much time until their arrival. She doubted that they were coming to become Warren's friends either, and she knew for certain what they would do to her. Well, this had become a suicidal mission several days ago, so what the hell? She hadn't lied when she told Razing that her priorities hadn't changed. They had always been centered on Warren's safety.

This fuck up, however, had put her against SIN, leaving her vulnerable and pitted against the world's villains with no backup. She was exposed now, and suddenly solving this damn mystery and finding the spy had never been more important. She wouldn't survive this, most likely, but that was just fine. She had a job to do, and for the first time in her life, she was the one making her own choices.

"Things didn't add up here," Will was saying, just as Layla walked up beside him and reached out to clutch his sleeve. He glanced back at her briefly before continuing. "If the guys in the cavern had been killed by Warren, there would be no need to kill anyone else related to the trap. It almost looks like someone is trying to get rid of witnesses."

"No one was murdered, Will. This was an accident," Layla said softly, but her voice shook. Warren looked at Chaney, and she nodded solemnly.

A jab in her side caught her attention, and Chaney glanced over to see a look of consternation on Sheila's face. The girl then turned to look away, and Chaney followed Sheila's gaze of borderline contempt straight to Warren. "Is there something going on that I should know about?" Sheila asked, sounding more petulant than Chaney had ever heard her.

Warren's expression issued a defiant challenge, divulging nothing, and Chaney shrugged. "Well, if Will's right, then that would mean that something happened that needed witnessing."

"Something that wasn't an accident," said Will in a sharp tone that broke at the end.

Chaney nodded. "We need to talk to Phaden. I need to know what he had been planning in that cavern, and who he had been talking to. I need to know the details of those boys' deaths, and everything we can find on them."

Sheila narrowed her eyes at Chaney. "Chaney? What's gotten into you…?"

"Chaney!"

Chaney turned to see Magenta running up. "What is it?" She asked.

"There was a fight before he died. I heard there were a couple of sidekicks nearby when it happened!" She was breathing hard. Warren walked up on one side of her, and Chaney glanced at him nervously before looking back at Magenta.

"Why are you telling me this?" Chaney asked.

Magenta coughed and straightened up. "Because the others may have…"

"Because it was your fault," Sophie Freeze walked up to say. She smiled at Chaney spitefully, and Chaney slanted her own venomous glare at the girl as a suspicion formed in her mind. Sophie's cruel look of unconcern looked like a face that should be worn around the school on a sunny day, when she was walking and chatting with friends. Not at the scene of a homicide.

"It wasn't her fault!" Magenta flipped Sophie off and turned back to Chaney. "Ignore her. She's just a jealous you-know-what."

"Jealous?" Sophie chuckled. "Not quite. What I feel could more accurately be described as contempt. Sky High will be ruined if this keeps up." She stepped up to Chaney and crossed her arms, her eyes shooting daggers. "Since the cavern, at least thirty kids dropped out of this school. After this murder, there will probably be a whole lot more. All because you felt like taking this game 'to a new level.' Why don't you just face it? You're the jealous bitch, and Warren's mine."

Chaney felt her eyebrows hike halfway up her head and blinked…several times. When had this become a battle over possession of Warren? Oh wait, stupid question. So, rephrase. When had she started to rate high enough on Sophie's warning-meter to merit a declaration of ownership?

"Careful, Sophie," the sound of Warren's voice drew Sophie's attention, but the look on her face just intensified. He hadn't bristled like usual. He just looked tired and unwilling to fight.

Sophie, however, was the one ready for a fight. Her jaw worked. "So now you're defending her?" She flipped him off. "Fine. &%# you. Both of you. For all we peons know, you're probably to blame for this death too."

She whirled to walk away, and Chaney felt Magenta's hand reach out to touch her arm. Chaney felt cold. Not from Sophie's ice, just plain cold. Sophie's last comment had a point. A good agent never believed in coincidences. The deaths at the cavern could be explained. This one almost could—it seemed almost like an accident, but it was too simple. She was dealing with a society of underground villains that had buddies in every country across the globe, messing with governments the world over, so what was so hard to believe about them messing with the whole school?

"What are we going to do now?" Layla asked.

Chaney reached up to dig her fingers through her hair. This situation was so much more volatile than it had been yesterday.

She looked up. "We need to find Phaden."

Will shrugged from behind Layla. "He's going to be hard to get to. The teachers have him in lockdown…" He was interrupted then when Power's voice came booming over the loudspeakers.

"_Attention, all students_." The group looked up at the loudspeakers over their heads. "_The faculty of Sky High is most acutely concerned about the recent deaths that have occurred in the school, though after discussing the action to be taken, we have decided to continue with all classes."_

Gasps went around the crowd, mixed with murmurs of dismay and frustration. Magenta hushed the kid near her, and the announcement on the loudspeaker continued. _"Before the next class period, however, please proceed to the Assembly Hall. The faculty would like to address you directly concerning further safety instructions and warnings."_

The speaker shut off with a shrill ring, and the crowd started filing out of the courtyard to head inside, bleak faces looking pale.

"That is it," said one guy as he threw his hands up. "I am outta here." He turned to go, and Chaney stood watching him as his girlfriend tried to stop him. He ended up just taking her along.

Someone shoved Chaney. Warren was on her other side suddenly, holding her upper arm in a vice grip, steadying her. He stepped in front of her, and suddenly there was a couple feet of room all around—everyone avoided contact with him. Chaney raised her gaze to his face. They stared at each other as the students swarmed up the steps of the school.

A few hundred nameless thoughts ran through her mind in the moments that followed—the few that were coherent mostly had to do with the guy she was staring down. What next?—for him, and for her. The world was falling apart, and both sides would be desperate to recruit new power for the battle ahead. What about the school? The faculty would have been informed about the situation in the world below them, if nothing else. Curfews would take effect, guards would be set up, and the haven that Sky High had become would now become a safe-house for a war. This bee-hive of supers would be at once both a sacred place where the powers of tomorrow could be formed and fitted to a certain cause, and a place of temptation for the enemy.

Slade.

Warren broke into her thoughts. "Either this is another coincidence, in which case I'm going to tell you, once, to stay the hell away from me, or there's something else going on here, and I think you know what it is—in which case I'm going to ask you, once, to tell me what the hell is going on."

Chaney took a slow, deep breath and stared him down. She wasn't under any constraints now to keep him in the dark, but, just for kicks, she decided to ask something obvious. "What makes you think there's something else going on here?"

He leaned in to grip her elbow. "I got my memory back, remember? I know what it is we were trained to be."

Chaney cocked an eyebrow. "And that leads you to assume…?"

"You're not here to go to school."

Chaney paused, considering. "Okay. Let's talk at the cavern." She pulled away from Warren and looked him in the eye. She saw the immediate protest that formed there.

"Why do we have to go back there?"

"Because I'm bugged, and we need to study the…area." She looked away, avoiding his eyes. "We might find something." She hated the way she had to tip toe around this subject. "For now, both the explanation and Phaden can wait. We should go to the Assembly Hall. I want to know what they're planning to do next."

Chaney glanced back at him, and he nodded, so she took his hand to walk into the building. They followed the swarms into the school, down the main hall to the huge Assembly Hall, where the throngs were pressed together, shoulder to shoulder, waiting anxiously for news. A few supers were flying around—or hopping, according to their powers or lack there of—trying to quell little riots. The crowd was moving, a few kids shoving others, which shoved whoever was nearest as well, creating a domino effect that would have taken a few kids off their feet if they hadn't been so closely packed. The noise was constant—kids shouting at each other, fighting as a manifestation of their fear. Chaney pulled Warren aside just before reaching the doors and slipped through a side door to the maintenance stairwell. The lock clicked open with a wave of her hand, and they started in. Warren followed her up without a word, and they ran up two levels before Chaney turned to one wall and waved her hand. The atoms split—millions of them realigning to move out of her way, opening a gaping hole in the wall. She stepped forward to look down at the Assembly Hall stage, and Warren stepped up beside her, giving her a questioning look.

She nodded at the churning masses. "It would be suicidal for the two of us to show our faces down there."

Warren nodded. "I can buy that."

Principal Powers stepped out on the stage and began calling for calm, but the masses of kids were still fighting. The faculty was busy breaking up brawls, Powers was shouting into a microphone that wasn't working, and even when it screeched into functioning order, no one shut up—though there were plenty of shouts, even among the student body, calling for silence as well. Then finally one of the students, whose power was as a siren, jumped up on stage, grabbed the microphone from Powers, and screeched into it. Everyone in the building jerked in pain and threw their hands over their ears. Warren's knees buckled, and Chaney fell against the wall, writhing. When the screech turned to a song, Chaney felt her nerves unwinding, and the tension in the air dissipated. The song faded, and Powers took the mike from the girl and instructed her to continue singing from the back of the stage. The girl nodded and fell back, still singing to calm the crowd, and the fighting finally ceased. Warren got back to his feet, and Chaney took a slow, steadying breath before Powers started speaking.

"Please remain calm. We've had a series of misfortunes, but IHH has agreed to send some of their best to patrol the school during class time in the day, and they will be staying in the dorms at night—just to make sure no more accidents happen in the time being…"

"Why do we need IHH agents? Is it really that serious?" Some kid shouted, and that started another riot.

Powers stepped forward. "Okay, SHUT UP." She ordered, and suddenly there was silence—utter and complete, though mouths were still moving. A few kids gestured at each others' shoving neighbors, but she had quiet at least, for the time being. "Things are not as serious here as they are in the outside world. The game that Miss Chaney Chai suggested was actually a version used in Sky University. The college version, in other words. It has been sanctioned and watched over for as long as the less dangerous version has been a part of your high school life. The accident that happened has caused a great deal of chaos in this school, but it was just an accident. Also, however unfortunate Jake Minoto's death was, it too was an accident. We have had a horrible run of luck lately, and there are some among the faculty…" she paused, swallowed, and glanced behind her at the uneven line of teachers and board leaders, their faces a mix of solemn bravery and bold-faced fear. She turned back, slowly, and continued. "Some think that the accidents that have happened here are just the precursor to a far more serious situation, but before I tell you the details, I would like to say that I have faith in this school. I have always believed that this place is a haven for those like us, and I still think it is…

"Despite the fact that the world seems to be falling apart around it." She sighed, and the round of whispers that had been going around hushed in frightened anticipation. "Ladies and gentlemen, there have sprung up numerous…complications below us, and because of an increased threat of danger, we must post guards around the school. Classes will continue as usual, but the curriculum will be changing slightly. We will be reassigning the Hero classes into teams of eight, to begin training in direct combat. Several of your regular teachers will be replaced by agents from IHH, insuring that your education will continue and that you will also be prepared to defend yourselves against anything that may come, however unlikely." The murmurs were beginning to grow again, but this time Principal Powers was unable to hush them. She asked for silence several times before giving up and speaking over them. "I would once again like to stress the safety of this school. Upon it's founding, there were integrated into the school several cloaking systems that would allow the school to disappear entirely, also hiding the auras of every super currently residing on school grounds…"

"We can't just sit here and wait for someone to kill us!" Someone shouted, starting the riots all over again.

Powers waved the surging crowd back, and forged ahead. "We will disappear, and relocate! We will hide, until we better understand the situation we are in. Meanwhile, we will make every effort to take precautions against any danger. Please be assured that the faculty and Council leaders, as well as myself and the owner of the school, value your safety above all else. We will do everything we can…"

Warren touched Chaney's shoulder. "Come on, we should go. I think the sooner we talk to Phaden, the better."

Chaney nodded and got to her feet, just as a huge explosion rocked the building.


	13. Ouch

A/N I have to apologize about any mispellings or odd-sounding constructions that you may find while reading these last couple chapters. I was reading my reviews the other day and decided that it was too much fun hearing from you guys to give up on this story, so now I'm giving it my all to get it finished! It's not as good as it could be with a few weeks of editing, but I hope you still enjoy it

Btw, THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU for the reviews. Love em.

Chapter 13

Screams erupted everywhere as the building shook, and terrified supers began rampaging for the nearest exit. Chaney lost her balance on the buckling hallway and fell over, right on top of Warren.

"What the hell is going on?" He shouted.

"No time to stop and figure that out!" Chaney shoved her way back up just as a huge peal of thunder enveloped them and the ceiling started caving in. Plaster peeled back and timbers burst, screeching and groaning with earsplitting volume. Chaney ducked her head and covered her ears, wincing at the pressure that was closing in on them. Boy, were her poor ears receiving a beating today. She was surprised they weren't bleeding yet.

Warren grabbed her arm and pulled her back toward the stairwell. "We've got to get out of here!" he shouted, and they stumbled down the stairs as the roof crumbled onto the landing they'd just left. The stairs cracked under the weight, threatening to cave in as well, and the inside of the steps started crumbling. It wasn't until they reached the next landing that she felt it grab hold of her. One minute, Chaney was hurtling down the stairs, and the next, she was hurtling back up them. Something wrapped around her body, yanking her backwards, back through the ceiling with a crushing BOOM and out into the open air. Her head hit something unforgiving and everything went black.

She came to again just as her body stopped moving, and her momentum snapped her limbs painfully backwards. She had to fight back the blackness that was closing in on her vision, but the ringing in her head wouldn't go away no matter how much she concentrated on clearing her sluggish thoughts of it. Something wet and warm trickled down the side of her face, but she couldn't lift her hand to touch it. It slipped into her mouth, and she tasted iron. Blood. Great, that would mean yet another headache later. Her eyes were fluttering, still rolling in her head...she sucked in a slow, deep breath and tried to force her eyes open.

And almost shut them again...except, she was so horrified she couldn't. As she began slowly regaining her senses, she realized that her hair was whipping around, her clothes flapping almost painfully against her skin as she witnessed the most terrifying display of powers she had ever seen. The school had become a battlefield. Fireballs, flame columns, screaming winds, driving rain, columns of water, flashes of controlled lightning, flying hallways, dopplegangers, super speed, super strength, flying kids, and every other power imaginable was whipping around the school, tearing the buildings apart and fighting over the student's heads. She saw kids running around, getting cornered by other supers, saw them getting sucked up into the air to be taken away. Several dozen supers were scattered through the air around the school, blasting up the buildings and snatching more students from the stampeding throngs. Powers had just exited the building to direct the faculty in a counterattack, and they seemed to have walked right into the middle of a tempest.

So why wasn't she going anywhere? The school looked like Armageddon, and the screams were getting swallowed by the thunder and screeching wind. It looked like the end of Sky High, but why was she here? Where was Warren? She tried to wrap her power around whatever was holding her and force it back. It didn't quite work, because she had no idea what she was dealing with, so she changed tactics and focused all her concentration on turning her head.

That, at least, worked, and the sight she saw when she turned her head made her wish it hadn't. Floating behind her was a young man that looked like he was made of a glistening golden fluid instead of flesh. His body rippled like shimmering water, and he was crouching on a hover board, grinning at her beneath the stoic form of a young woman who was nothing but a shadow.

The man chuckled, the tone rippling and melodic, like water gurgling in a brook. "Hello, gorgeous. We were assigned to pick you up, so be good and we should get along just fine." He was angling a small device down at her, from which came the beam of light that had Chaney trapped. It looked like a remote control, which...irked her, somewhat. To think that someone was controlling her like a TV. Grrr.

Fortunately, she didn't need her hands to use her powers. She reached out with her mind and tried to wrap her power around him, trying to sort out the matter that he was made of...and came up blank. His grin turned into a full-fledged smile.

"Tsk, tsk," he said, and glanced up at his friend. "May I?"

The woman nodded, and the gleeful, almost devilish look he turned on Chaney made her more than a little nervous. He stood up, and his body disintegrated into a puddle of gold and flew through the air to reassemble back in front of her. Chaney sucked in a gasp as he reached out to touch the blood on her face, and when he pulled his hand away, she watched her blood disappear into his 'skin'.

Oh, shit. He grinned at her, and then reached out to touch her head...and she knew nothing after that.

********************

"Chaney!" Her hand was ripped out of his grip, but he had barely turned around before the entire stairwell began disintegrating on top of him. He saw her disappear through the roof, a look of surprise on her face. Warren lit his arms to blow apart the debris before it could bury him, melting the sheetrock and bending a steel beam in half with a fireball. Shit. Where was she? He couldn't get through the debris fast enough to keep it from falling on him, let alone get out to her...

"CHANEY!" He shouted, but there was no answer. He was getting cornered against the stairwell's outer wall, so he turned and pressed both hands against the wall. One shot, or he was dead...so he gathered a huge burst of energy and blew a hole in the wall. He leaped out just as huge chunks of debris rained down on the stairs platform where he'd been standing, and fell the two stories to the ground, his arms still flaming, right into a hurricane-force wind that was whipping around the whole school. His flames snuffed out and he hit the ground to drop into a roll, but when he started to get back to his feet, agony shot through his left ankle.

Shit! He hit the ground again.

"WARREN!" Warren looked up just as one of his classmates hurtled past him, her arms flailing for him, tears falling down her face. "HELP ME!!"

"Tracy!" Warren stood, keeping his weight on his right leg, and spotted the super that was dragging Tracy upwards, and wound up one arm to let loose another fireball. He forced his flames back into existence, fighting against the wind that threatened to blow him away. He never got the chance though, because something hit him from behind and he flew clear off his feet. When he hit the ground, his shoulder clipped the edge of a metal railing and he cried out in pain. He expected someone to carry through on the opening his back was presenting, but no more blows came, and after a moment he gathered enough determination to push up and look around.

Tracy was gone, and his attacker had flown through the cafeteria window. A folding chair. No wonder it had hurt so bad...but it wasn't the only thing flying around. Pieces of the lab building were hurtling upwards, flying after attackers and faculty alike until Warren couldn't tell enemy apart from ally.

"Dear God..." he looked around, wondering what the hell to even do. He limped forward, fighting the wind and rain, trying to find someone. "CHANEY!"

"Warren Peace! Found you!"

Warren whirled. He was surprised he had heard the words at all over the howling wind, and spotted a white-skinned and blue haired man riding a hover board. The guy's face looked more like a fish's, his long nose taking up most of his face and his hands looked like webbed claws. He looked solemn as he moved the hover board down to hover in front of Warren, the machine straining in the wind, and then lifted a hand.

Warren braced himself, but he still wasn't expecting the deluge that washed over him. Water wrapped around him, swirling around in a vortex that nearly ripped his coat off his shoulders. He held his breath, trying to summon his flames despite the water. A big fat lot of nothing happened. He may have felt the water grow warmer, but after a while he started to suffocate, and even that delusion went away. It was when the black was closing in on the corners of his vision that he saw something beyond the water.

Sophie Freeze was hiding under the overhang of the school with two other kids, trying to keep their feet on the ground. Another kid was lying on the ground next to them, holding his red-stained side.

Fuck this.

What had Chaney said about his powers? Like a sun? Well, yeah that hypothesis might have worked...except the sun was too damn big to be so easily smothered in water like this...........

Oh. He just...needed to overwhelm the water then.

Clenching his fists and fighting his way back to consciousness, Warren realized that he was about a hundred yards above the lawn and getting carted further away. He clenched his fists and started gathering energy, wrapping it around his body and letting it loose. The whirlpool started superheating, and he turned up the heat as high as he could handle without calling forth the flames. His skin started burning as the water reached boiling temperatures, and he clamped his jaw down to bear it. The water started evaporating, and that threw off the super's control. Warren got a gasp of air suddenly and prepared to let loose everything he could gather.

He couldn't remember the explosion in the cavern, but if it had been anything like this than he really was a monster. Some...thing erupted from his body, pulsating outward with such force that it blew the water super off his board and exploded his hover board. Warren watched the flames unroll, heard the deafening silence within the heart of his sphere of destruction as everything around him went up in flames...or melted and became nothing. It lasted only a moment, and then he was plummeting, his flames still surrounding him. He hit the ground a moment later, and the dull thud left his body aching. His head throbbed, feeling as though it were about to split in two. Ugh. This was why being a hero was for losers.

Warren groaned and shifted an arm under him to lever himself up. Okay. Now he was really pissed. His face had barely left the ground when he forced his eyes open, and saw a bed of hot lava beneath him. Warren's head snapped back and he pushed himself up. He stared at his hand in disbelief, because it couldn't possibly be lying in the middle of molten lava. He watched the way the white flames enveloping it burned away the skin and flesh, covering him in ashes that floated away and reformed as perfect skin.

He pushed himself to his feet and looked down at himself, hovering on the border between awed and terrified as he noted the white-hot flames wrapped around his entire body. Wow.

He looked up and around then, realizing that Sophie and the other two students were nowhere to be seen, and pieces of molten building were dripping off what was left of the eaves. Patches of grass were on fire, and he was attracting the attention of several of the attackers. His initial attacker was lying on the lawn, nothing but a white skeleton amidst char-broiled flesh.

"Vortex is down!" The shout called Warren's attention upwards, and he looked up to see that several hover boards were swooping down on him, all of which were carting around a super.

Good. Being in pain made him mad, and he needed a punching bag or three to vent on.

A chunk of concrete came flying at him from one side, and Warren barely had time to raise his hand before it hit his wall of flames and disintegrated into nothing. He looked up as the hover boards-six of them-came to circle him and stopped a good ways beyond his flames, trying to shield their faces against the heat.

Right. So, what else had he been doing over the past year? Blowing light bulbs and killing plants. Hmm. The killing plants part was probably due to radiation, and the light bulbs...electricity? Solar power...um...ultra violet rays...what kind of use was all that crap?

While he was busy thinking, his impatient opponents began their attack. A beam of light came down from three of the boards as the other three remained on standby, and Warren felt as though his limbs became ten times heavier. He dropped back to one knee, and the lava at his feet widened in the base of his little crater.

Ticked, Warren reached out and swept an arm across the line of his opponents, concentrating on the boards. The supers were overbalanced by a pulse of power, and fell off. Warren's flames followed the path of his initial attack and, before they had even reached the boards, the machines superheated and exploded, and suddenly the winds were whipping around him, trying to smother his flames.

Desperate, he looked around for the super who was controlling the wind, and lashed out with a column of flame that took the redheaded woman whole. Something hit the ground in front of him, and Warren looked down to see a man made of some kind of metal stand up. He stepped up to Warren, expecting to be just fine and dandy, apparently, because metal wasn't supposed to burn. Warren walked up and grabbed his arms, wrapping his flames around the man. He watched the angry metallic expression turn to terror as the man's arms turned fire-engine red. The man started struggling, trying to pull away, and Warren realized suddenly that the man was making a failing attempt to send his metal up Warren's arms. The metal was melting as soon as it touched him, however, burning up even as his skin was, and his attacker was attempting to retreat. One of the other supers called a bolt of lightning down on Warren, but the impact felt good. The metal man went flying out of Warren's grasp, but Warren felt rejuvenated instead of hurt. He looked up at his opponents and found them backing off, hands held up in front of squinting eyes. They could barely see him, and the most he could see of them was a bunch of white beams folding around cringing bodies.

Principal Powers showed up then, along with three of the faculty members, and Warren's attackers started turning tail.

"Let's back down for now!" Another super flew in on a hover board, and Warren watched him circle the buildings around them. The winds had died down, and the hurricane of powers had subsided. Now, supers all across the school were backing off and turning to leave with their prizes. "Slade will be satisfied with the ones we have. MOVE OUT!"

The whole attack force moved out then, and Warren was left with Powers and the few shabby survivors that were still in the near vicinity. She looked bruised and tired, but he was glad to see her.

"Where's Will?" he asked Powers. He couldn't fly, but Will could take the two of them after the attack force.

"We won't be following," Powers said, and she lifted a hand to shield her eyes. "Could you turn off now? They're gone."

"Where's Chaney?" He held his breath, dreading the response. It shouldn't have mattered, really, but it had been _his_ hand she'd been holding right before she went flying through the roof.

He waited for a response, but the look that came over Power's face before she spoke said it all. Warren's flames died out, and she opened her mouth several times, looking as though she might be on the verge of tears-yes, Powers, Principal Powers. "She's gone," Powers said, and tilted her head back to blink and looked around the school. "She's been taken, along with many others."

Warren shut his eyes against the sudden rush of memories. He saw Chaney as a child, hanging onto him desperately because she didn't want to go to another test. Her power had just manifested itself and killed two men, and the doctors had all gotten spooked. They thought she was a monster, never noticing that she was more traumatized than the lot of them together. He remembered when they'd first dropped him into a vat of ice to see if he could call out his powers under duress. He'd gotten hypothermia and Chaney had laughed at him-even after she'd climbed up on his bed to share her blanket and her dinner with him. He remembered wrapping both blankets around his head and teeth chattering...and then, he remembered when they decided his powers weren't dangerous enough to keep him there. He'd been the son of two immensely powerful supers and wound up a dud.

He remembered Chaney's reaction when she'd figured it out. The kids were always talking, always passing on little tidbits of information they'd overheard from the scientists, and Warren's imminent discharge was one such tidbit. She'd cried.

Warren's fists clenched as he remembered them coming to take him away. They knocked her out so she wouldn't make a fuss.

"Principal Powers," he said, slowly, so he could be understood through his clenched teeth.

"What is it, Mr. Peace?" She sounded tired.

"What's our next move?"


	14. Telling the Tale

Chapter 14

"Take your time! Keep in line everyone!" Principal Powers stood up on a side access ramp, overlooking the underground passageway that was leading more Sky High survivors to Sin's underground shelter.

Warren stood on the other end of the chamber from Sophie, with three other Heroes that had been selected to keep the peace among the students. Six days had passed since the school had been ransacked. Maxwell town had been hit too, only they thought it had been an earthquake. The families of the supers had almost universally—literally—agreed that it was time their children went into hiding, and SIN was sending in refugee high-schoolers and much, much younger kids from all over the planet.

Sophie glanced over at him again. She was fairly sure that not a single word had passed his lips since the attack. He looked seriously pissed, more so than she remembered him being in years, and there were moments when she glanced over and caught his clothes smoking. His jaw seemed perpetually ground shut, and his fists were clenched so tight she wondered if they'd gotten stuck that way. Every time he looked over the growing throngs of superkid-refugees, the smoldering look in his eyes intensified, and she could have sworn that the temperature in the entire cavern went up by several degrees. By the way, Warren's flame tattoos seem to have become more elaborate. He was wearing a plain black rocker t-shirt and a pair of combat pants lent to him by one of the other supers. The sweat that shone on his arms made the shirt cling, and damn, but that looked good on him. He was WAY more buff than he'd been when Royal Payne had attacked the school. The only thing that topped the shirt though were the red and orange flames that now stretched up to his elbows. No longer wrist ornaments, they looked more menacing than ever, like their owner, and sometimes if she looked at them just right, they seemed to move, like real fire twisting about on his skin.

Damn, but she hated him. No man had ever dissed her like Warren Peace. She was used to being fawned over, and liked being able to command a man's attention. Ever since that Chai bitch had shown up though, he'd been distracted. At first it looked like he was just annoyed by a fly buzzing around his head, but then it had gotten worse.

Now, there were no leads on where the captured students had been taken, and that bitch was included. Part of Sophie was glad she was gone. The day she'd caught Warren standing outside Chaney Chai's door, hands braced on either side of the doorframe, his head hung low in a mix of frustration and guilt, she'd sworn she'd never think of him again.

Ever.

Shit he looked so hot. Especially when he crossed his arms. The flame tattoos flexed with his muscles, and the sheen of sweat covering his skin glistened invitingly.

If only he hadn't said anything the night after the game.

The Sky High kids had been talking about him non-stop since the attack. She had never in her life seen anything as terrifying as the burning inferno that had engulfed him. The very air around him had seemed charged with energy, and the heat that was radiating off him had been too intense to stand anywhere nearby. She made the mistake of looking directly at him, and the immediate pain behind her eyes registered even before she realized that he was generating so much light that she couldn't even see Warren but for a tiny shadow in its heart. And…she'd never felt heat like that. Standing by a campfire was painful. That had been excruciating beyond anything she'd ever experienced in her life. She hadn't known the meaning of pain before that day.

Sophie had barely registered what was happening before a bloodcurdling scream had been torn from her throat, and agony washed over her whole body in a wave of overwhelming intensity. She hadn't been standing anywhere close to Warren Peace, and yet it had been too close. The pain had been too much, and she'd passed out. She was only alive now thanks to the faculty members that had risked their own lives to drag her and the other students away. Everyone had fallen back to the edges of the school grounds, and still, they could feel the heat. Sophie was just damn lucky that there were supers who healed as well as those who caused nothing but destruction.

She could still see the look on his face just before he'd begun burning like he'd summoned the flames of Hell itself. It was similar to the look he was wearing now, only…she was just scared right now. Then…her heart must have stopped, and for the first time in her life she felt cold dread pass like icicles through her veins, paralyzing her whole body and stealing any reason that was left in her terror. Her. Sophie Freeze, who could feel no cold, had felt chills creep down her spine.

He was overwhelming. Powerful beyond anything she'd ever seen. The silly fireballs he'd thrown before looked like parlor tricks to this new power, and it excited her.

Warren Peace. She wanted him. Wanted to feel that hot skin against hers. Wanted him to be hers again.

Warren bent to pick up a small doll that had fallen on the cold stone ground. Kids, way too young to be away from their parents, were flocking to this place. World War? He didn't even want to contemplate the implications of that prediction. For the past six days, he had been bombarded by information. Powers, for the first time in his memory, had stepped down for others to take charge. That alone was enough to scare him, even if the agents that had come to debrief him just pissed him off.

This should not be happening. Not to anyone. It was too much like what had happened to him, and this kind of pain, this kind of fear, was not something that a person ever forgot. No one should know it.

Burn.

"Warren Peace?"

Warren raised his eyes just enough to slant a glower up at the man standing at his side. He'd hoped the idiot would be smart enough to just walk on by.

"Agent Rathio would like to speak with you."

Warren ground his teeth together and looked down at the doll. He couldn't say anything without letting out a lot of pent up anger, so he said nothing, as was becoming his habit lately. So he stood back up and watched as a military-issued jeep came slowly down the tunnel, three more kids seated in its back end. They watched him with blank stares as the car drove by, and he had to work to control the flames that seethed and simmered just beneath the surface of his skin. They wanted out, as he was coming to learn. Ever since Chaney's chip had melted in his attack, they wanted with all the force of a living mind, and he had been fighting them for every waking moment. He wasn't getting sleep, and anything he ate seemed to disappear. Now, their voice was becoming stronger, and his head was filled with the desire to start throwing fireballs at everything in sight. The only time they'd shut up was when…

Burn.

He could feel the muscles in his jaw cramping, but he just bit down harder. It would have been so satisfying, to see this place go up in smoke, and watch the stone melt down into rivers of lava. To see the men who had attacked Sky High go up in smoke. He knew he could do it, now. He knew, with the same kind of certainty that this fire of his was burning steadily in the core of his body, that he could blow this place with more force than an atom bomb.

If only he could get over this damn guilt, he wouldn't feel so distracted. It would be easier to focus. He needed to resist, but anyone who knew the crushing weight of guilt knew it was just as paralyzing as a physical blow.

They wanted to be let out soooooooo bad. Part of him wanted nothing but to give in and pick a fight with the biggest, baddest bad guy he could find, just so he could let down all his barriers and hold nothing back. He was sick of people messing with his life, and he still felt almost nauseous over the shock of his rediscovered past. That he could have ever been so helpless pissed him off to no end. That he had been at the mercy of a bunch of scientists, playing their lab rat, sitting through tests and training, watching as some of his cellmates died, pissed. him. off. Then, all he had to do was think of Chaney's tiny face peeking over the edge of his cot, and Tracy, and the school, and every cell in his body turned red-hot. The sweat that had become his constant companion over the past few days trickled down his stomach and back, barely cooling the skin it touched before evaporating and being replaced. He needed water again, bad.

Just don't think about what had happened at the apartment…because that brought back the guilt. The only time his powers shut up was when he was too busy kissing Chaney to listen to them. Fuck. He'd used her. He was a sick, demented, pussy. He shouldn't have sought that solace, but he had, and now…well, it was too much. He had killed three innocents, and to escape the guilt he'd turned to a girl he thought he remembered, maybe. Now the guilt was almost as powerful as his anger, because after he'd kissed the girl, he'd stood by and watched her get lugged off by a bunch of power-hungry bastards who had kidnapped half his school.

Someone was going to pay for this.

A hand landed on his shoulder, and Warren snapped his head around.

"Now, Peace. That wasn't a request."

Warren looked down at the hand on his shoulder, and it was immediately snatched back. His shirt smoked where the hand had been burnt.

"Peace," the man's voice was strained, his jaw tight as he moved his injured hand behind him. "He needs to talk to you."

Warren turned then and started walking back toward the unofficial conference rooms, his tread heavy enough that he could feel his footsteps vibrate through his whole body. Some people called it stalking. He just called it walking around pissed off.

No one got in his way.

She screamed. There was nothing left of her mind to think of anything besides the pain. All she knew was pain, and the burning in her lungs that said she needed to take another breath, so she could scream some more.

The pain stopped, again, but her damaged body could barely tell. Every nerve end felt as though it had been ripped out of her body, given a damn good beating, and shoved haphazardly back in.

That's when the voice began…again? She wasn't sure. "This is so typical. SIN was always so strapped up with rules that they could barely breathe without a warrant. Heh, especially when it came to the special cases. You're one of them, aren't you? An S-class agent. SIN was always so secretive about their kids. We never even managed to infiltrate the facility, no matter who we sent in."

Chaney's eyes were rolling back in her head, one eye swollen almost shut. She had lost control of most of her body on the first day. Now, things like breathing and moving her eyes, and even her heart rate were being affected. She barely had the strength to look at him, but one eye was lolling about in the same direction that he was sitting in. His feet were propped up on the metallic gurney she was strapped to. He was toying with something blurry in his blurry hands, but she knew when he looked up.

She could feel it when he turned his full attention back to her.

"So, miss Chaney Chai…or whatever your real name is, I'll try one last time for today. Where is the training facility for X soldiers?"

He was in her mind, helping her reassemble the bits and parts of her thoughts to form an answer. After she'd melted the first two mind readers of his, they had strapped her head in some kind of restrictor that nullified her powers—successfully. He had finally decided to do the work himself…once she had been rendered helpless. Heheh. Even the pain had been worth it.

"I see. You think so?"

It was there again in an instant, all over her body, burning, searing, tearing pain…so severe that her muscles went in to spasms. She screamed, forcing out air that she didn't have, until she couldn't do anything more than wheeze. Then she sucked in more air to do it again.

When the pain started fading, her screams changed suddenly to laughter. Funny, but it was still worth it to make Slade, the leader of the opposition, stoop to interrogate one lone, stubborn prisoner.

"You're not very bright, Miss Chai."

Chaney arched up off the gurney, tears streaming down her face as the agony renewed. "MOTHERFUCKERS!" She screamed, and started laughing again.

The man sighed. "You are a fool, Chaney Chai."

She laughed, weakly, and realized that her dry heaving sounded like an old woman's hoarse cackle. "You're…the fool." She coughed, because her throat was so dry that she could barely get the words through. "I don't know anything."

"I disagree."

"Fuck you."

He lifted his feet off her gurney and stood up to set one hand on either side of her head. Slade. She'd only ever seen him in mug shots, but he was handsome even when she could barely see straight, and only through one eye. He leaned down to look her in the face, and she smiled at him—well, tried to smile. One lip was busted and swollen.

"You have a lot of guts, Number Seven," he said.

"Last time I heard that, it wasn't meant as a compliment…" Chaney coughed, and he laughed before pushing away from her and straightening.

"Maybe you don't know anything. Maybe you know everything. Maybe Razing didn't trust you with a high-priority mission, then subsequently attempt to call you off it with a personal message in the interest of your own safety as well as that of a young Mr…" Slade turned his too blue eyes to look at the golden man, Chaney's constant companion since her capture.

"Warren Peace," Golden Boy answered.

Slade nodded and lifted a finger to emphasize his feigned surprise. "Ah, yes, the famous son of Maxwell Verne. Too famous, if you ask me, unless his powers are more than they've been cracked up to be." He leaned down again. "That wouldn't happen to be the case now, would it, Number Seven?"

Chaney cracked another smile. "Maybe I was sent out to monitor the school for erratic power levels." She sucked in a few deep breaths. "Maybe I started misbehaving and Razing was pissed off enough to skip the middle man and threaten to off my ass personally."

Slade shrugged. "Maybe…but then again, I seem to recall that he had a certain fondness for you. Out of all his little lab rats, you were his favorite. Ranked number seven…though I have to wonder," he reached down to touch her ear, where the inhibitor chip had been. "I wonder whether that was an accurate ranking."

Chaney laughed again. "If I were ranked any higher I would have already offed your ass, Mr. Slade, sir." She filled her head with images of turning him into goo, trying to block everything else out with the image. Ugly goo. Maybe smelly too.

Slade cocked his head at her, his eyes narrowing. None of the irritation she'd been trying to nurture was there though, which suddenly made her stomach churn. He looked curious instead. Shit, too late. He must have seen a glimpse of something before she turned her mind elsewhere.

"Really," he said, "it seems to me that you have enough power to be ranked among the top five. Possible the top three. That would be very interesting." He reached down to push a sweat-dampened lock of hair off her forehead and grinned.

She was wearing a black tank top and a pair of damp sweatpants, and her skin was slick with sweat. Chaney could feel every tiny shift in the air as it glided across her skin in an attempt to cool her off, so when Slade reached down to run his hands up her bare arms, she was hypersensitive of the touch. He watched her for a reaction, and she just met his gaze with the blandest, most unprovoked glare she could manage. Click.

Huh?

Suddenly she was sitting, and her head was trying to catch up with the rest of her body, much to the chagrin of her limp neck muscles. Slade had her wrists clamped in one hand, and stretched out in front of her so she was in an awkward position. He leaned forward, his chest pressed against her shoulder, and she felt the nullifying device being ripped from her head. The pain it caused was confusing, and the sudden return of her powers was so fast and overwhelming that she couldn't think straight enough to organize an attack.

Slade's head was bent close to hers, his breath on her ear. "Warren Peace, Pyrokinetic."

With the sudden explosion of returned power, another onslaught joined it. Memories, too potent to be hidden, so strong they made her chest constrict with emotion, slammed into her mind with as much chaos as her swirling power. Her head jerked forward once more and it was all gone—the memories, the feeling of power needing to be let out, and even Slade and his henchmen. They were all gone, as though they'd never been, and her head was once more encased in a machine.

What had she just done?

Warren slammed his hands down on the table, and smoke immediately drifted up from the wood.

"What do you mean, you're not going after them?" Little flames sprang to life over his skin, the impact making the sturdy table shudder. He tried to ignore the pulse of power and the visible ripple that expanded through the air, but he saw the look on the faces of the men across from him. They had seen the immediate heat wave that rolled off him as his temper flared.

"We can't afford to spend the resources," said the stocky man that was seated on the far side of the room. Someone had wisely placed the big piece of oak furniture between the door and the rest of them, making Warren feel like a convicted criminal at his own trial, with at least ten other supers standing witness to either side, but the guys should have found something less flammable.

"You lost sixty seven students, and you won't spend the resources to recover them?" Warren shook with the effort to control himself. He was so furious he could barely see straight. He knew about the incompetence that bureaucrats often showed, but this was ridiculous. Well, to be fair, it wasn't incompetence. It was pure cowardice.

Will watched Warren from the corner of the room, arms folded and his eyes narrowed in thought. When was the last time Warren had been so worked up? Had he ever been this close to losing it? The guy was known for brooding and feared for his temper, but in all actuality most of it was rumor and silly girls bent on seeing things how they wanted. Warren kept a cool head on his shoulders even when he was angry, most of the time. Most guys lost their heads…made stupid mistakes. Warren was smart. His grades were well known. He'd only been kept back a year for dissing his teachers and misbehaving.

Warren didn't give a damn about authority, though ironically he made a good leader himself, so Will worried. The whole situation sucked.

The tall, thin man standing next to the stocky one reached up to adjust his glasses, and Will turned his attention back to them. "We can't spend the resources now. Slade has been organizing villainy for the past decade, and he's finally set everyone loose. It takes a lot more manpower to quell trouble than it does to make it, Mr. Peace, and we're not in a position to go after a few kids when we've got thousands more that require our protection."

"We're asking you to cooperate with us, Mr. Peace," the second man spoke up again. "If you agree to surrender yourself into our care, and follow specific instructions, we're willing to overlook your recent actions in the cave and give you a way out of prison."

Will's head snapped up at that. "Prison? He was just going to get expelled!" He walked forward and slammed a fist into the side of the table. The corner shattered, and the rest of the table flew across the room to embed itself into the wall. "Nothing that happened in that cave was intentional!"

Warren could not go to prison. It would be just like his dad…

"Back off Will."

Warren's voice was low and as menacing as Will had ever heard it. Will straightened, fuming, to look at his best friend. Warren wasn't even looking at him. He had his glare firmly fixed on the six representatives from the world's super-hero equivalent of government.

"What are you asking?" Warren asked quietly.

A man who had been standing by the back wall turned to face them then. "We're asking you to come back. We made a mistake the first time. We didn't think your mother would be so desperate to get you out of there that she would seal your powers."

"Who are you?" Will asked.

"He's known as Razing," said Josie Stronghold as she walked through the doors of the office.

"Mom? What are you doing here?" Will was glad to see her, but he wished the situation was different…and, he wished he knew why his mother's cape was half-gone and the rest of it beaten and dented.

Wait…Razing? THE Razing? Will looked over at the man who stood silently surveying those gathered in the room, and somehow couldn't imagine him as the man who could control the shifting of the earth's crust. Earthquakes, natural disasters…the man could cause them, and on occasion, was able to quell them. He was hugely powerful, and so shrouded in secrecy that even the supers thought he was a myth.

"I'm here because I was called in," his mom said. "Your father is still up on the surface, helping fight off the villains. Everyone's overworked. The normals are rioting, and several supers have been killed by civilians. Sidekicks everywhere are busy trying to repair the social damage while those of us who can are attempting to fend off Slade and his new followers."

New followers. Somehow, with the way she emphasized those two words, and the way she was pinning Razing with one of those glares that promised really big consequences, Will thought this sounded pretty significant. "What the hell is going on?" Will asked.

The man known as Razing looked around at the supers gathered—at Will, Powers, and several other supers that were dressed all in black. He took a deep breath, and began speaking again. "Forty years ago, the world was almost destroyed. We've had a lot of very large natural disasters, and a lot of man-made ones too, but this time, the threat was so great that we had to take drastic action. Maxwell Verne nearly tore apart the very matter that we're all made of. He would have destroyed our race so completely that we would have ceased to exist.

"For centuries, as long as supers have existed, SIN has been there to oversee them and make sure that the really dangerous ones are taken care of. Three centuries ago, all we did was try to confine anyone who showed signs of having too much power to control, but that failed too often, and too many people died. We have tried reversing the genes that give humans these powers, but that method that is also too unreliable. Sometimes the supers retain their powers, and sometimes, the method even acts as an augmenter and the super becomes more powerful than before—a result that has had catastrophic problems in our history. In recent years, we've often found it necessary to take more…permanent actions."

"You're talking about murder," Will's mother said. Will's jaw had long since dropped, and he was too dumbfounded to comment. Warren was standing exactly where he had been, his hands smoking now.

"We're talking about saving humanity." Razing narrowed his eyes at Will's mother, and he stepped in front of her reflexively.

He didn't know what was going on here, but superhero or not, this man was scaring the hell out of him. This situation was going over his head. It was too overwhelming. Could this really be happening?

"What does all that have to do with Warren?" Will asked.

A muscle in Razing's jaw clenched. "After Maxewell Verne, we realized that there were too many we missed, which the enemy could recruit instead. Too many whose powers either destroyed them or everyone around them. You know that there are a lot of commercial-powers out there, but when a super turns up that sucks the life out of others, or causes widespread disease, or natural disasters, we have always been there to clean it up. Historical instances of the Plague, or Black Death, the potato blight in Ireland, the harsh winters in Russia…many of these have been caused by supers who were born with unlucky or just plain unholy powers. We couldn't stand back anymore, so thirty years ago we began a project." Razing sighed.

"We began by using adults, but their powers were too deeply influenced by their characters and pasts. We needed to start younger, so we began testing on children. We wanted at first to find a way to completely erase a person's powers. We turned up nothing…"

"So you decided instead to begin training your own elite guard of world-class supers," Warren said. Even his words seemed to smoke, they held so much contempt. "Kids who were so powerful they could control your enemies so easily that world-class catastrophes could be stopped before they ever became problematic."

Razing smiled coldly. "We have a psychic who can look into the future, with limited success. One of only four true psychics in the world. We trained them to fight for humanity…"

"You brainwashed them," Warren snarled.

"And you were going to be one of them, until your mother interfered," said Will's mom.

He couldn't believe this. Will couldn't believe this could be true.

"For which she has answered," Razing said, and suddenly his eyes clouded over with such severity that Will almost backed down in fear. "Your mother robbed humanity of one of its most powerful warriors, and sent you down a road that may very well get you killed by your own powers. Your development was halted, so your body hasn't grown accustomed to handling what you're capable of."

"Chaney didn't seem brainwashed," Will said, and watched as the thunderous expression on Razing's face turned into the face of an old man. Was it just his imagination, or did the man look almost…sad?

"Chaney wasn't ranked in the top ten," Warren whispered, as though the realization had just hit him. "No wait, that wasn't why. Chaney was the only one who managed to hang on to a part of herself, out of nine subjects."

"Soshaun Yang was the most stubborn, unrelenting case we had," Razing said. "She was, and still is, the only one of the test subjects who could still interact with normal human beings, and we never could figure out why. The only thing most of us could figure was that the inhibitor chips we planted in her managed to suppress enough of her power that her mind remained intact. The one she removed and passed to Peace was just one of three." He glared pointedly at Warren. "Though the other two are weaker and more susceptible to damage without the third."

Will heard his mother swear. She never swore.

"Soshaun Yang, or Soo Yang, Number Seven, has never been anything even resembling normal, Mr. Peace." Razing's fists were clamped firmly behind him, but he looked ready to tear Warren apart. "If there were anyone I would like to give every effort to recovering, it would be her. However, this cannot be accomplished, because the facility that held our test subjects was broken into two days ago, and all of the eight remaining subjects have joined Slade."

Will snorted. "You made your own enemies. You must be pissed, to realize that you raised them up from eggs just to hate your guts."

Razing turned a heavy glare on Will. "Eight of the world's top ten most powerful supers, none of whom have enough capacity to make their own decisions, are having their bitterness manipulated by a world-class villain, and the only person we have left who can even begin to compare has not yet realized his full potential. He can't even handle his own powers yet." He turned back to Warren. "We can't let you go rescue anyone because we need you to focus your attacks on our former subjects, numbers One through Six, and Eight. You are our last remaining weapon, Warren Peace, and I'm not even sure we can call you that much."

Warren stepped forward menacingly, one hand already lighting up but Will's mom reached out to touch his arm. She hissed when her hand was burnt and yanked her hand back. Warren hesitated, and turned to make sure she was all right. She took the opportunity to speak. "He's right, Warren. We can handle the rescue. You need to…"

"They aren't going to go after her," Warren said.

"Warren!" Will wasn't sure whether to be worried or sympathetic.

Warren turned to storm out, and four of the five black-clad men stepped up from the sides of the room.

"You can cooperate willingly, Mr. Peace, in which case we can work everything out, or we will have to imprison you. We can't afford to let Slade get you too," Razing said.

Warren turned, very slowly, and when he looked back at Razing, Will saw a part of Warren looking out that he hadn't seen since freshman year.

Sky High…it had been all but destroyed, students had been killed, the world was falling apart, and more than one of his friends had been kidnapped. Now, his best friend was being threatened by a man that was supposed to be protecting them all.

Sheila slipped away from the vent and wiggled backwards through the tunnel. When she got back to the end, she felt the others helping her get down, and grunted as she had to lower herself from the ceiling vent.

"Well?" Layla sounded anxious, so Sheila turned around to tell them what she'd heard. They were all there. Layla, Zach, Magenta, Ethan, and believe it or not, Sophie Freeze.

"What are they going to do to him?" Zach asked.

"What's going on?" Ethan asked at the same time.

Sheila glanced around the halls. A few students were milling around, but the people that worried her were the people in black. "We need to go somewhere that they won't be able to hear us. Warren's in trouble."

***************

A/N - So...what do you think? That's how things all started. All this time, Chaney has been acting as the agency's top agent. Maybe she's a little rebellious and unorthodox, but she's good, and she's strong. Really strong, actually. What do you think that means for her 'resignation'. She's gone rogue, and now they won't rescue her...suspicious, right? And we still haven't heard from Phaden in a while. SOMEONE is still acting as Slade's spy. Guesses, anyone?


	15. It's getting deep!

Chapter 15

"Take a sip." The hand that held the cup raised it to her lips, and she opened her mouth to let the cool liquid flow past her dry tongue and down her parched throat. She swallowed it all, not caring whether it was poisoned or not, and was grateful when the sides of her throat were no longer sticking together from thirst.

When he pulled it away, she cleared her throat tentatively. "Is the gag really necessary?"

The man chuckled, and by the liquid sound of its tones she knew it was her golden boy. Apparently, though she had been rendered harmless, Slade still thought it was prudent to have a man attend her that she couldn't harm anyway. "If you hadn't proved yourself to be so much trouble, none of this would have been necessary," he said.

Chaney couldn't help but grin a little, even though doing so made her dry lips split open in a couple places. She was now blindfolded and wrapped in a straightjacket, with the nullifier strapped to her head. Her feet had been tied together too, and here came the gag again. She turned her head away, but it was hard to put up a fight when she was all but immobilized. The golden guy strapped it back in place, and she tried to listen to him leave. His footsteps never made a sound, but she heard the door slide open and then back shut behind him.

Silence fell again, and her mind drifted back to the dream that Slade had just given her.

Oh, gods.

She couldn't really keep her mind off of it. Damn, but that man was good. She doubted she would have thought of getting information from a source by that kind of method, but it had almost worked. Of course, by thinking about the cleverness of Slade's ploy, she was just trying to distract herself from remembering how good it had felt, to think that Warren had been there…

Oh shit…there she went again. Chaney sucked in a breath as the heat of the dream washed over her. She felt warm flesh touching hers, someone kissing her neck, her shoulder, her collar bone…a hand sliding sensually over her skin, the tips of his fingers just barely making contact, just teasing her as they dipped lower. Chaney sighed and lifted her head to drop it back against the table, trying to jar her mind out of the erotic memory. Slade had made her picture doing things with Warren that she'd wanted for a long time…wanted with such fierce desire that she'd made it easy for him. So easy to toy with her mind, to call out the memory of Warren's face, and the touch of his lips, to picture the two of them together. Chaney wasn't sure when she had begun to wonder what it was to run a hand down Warren's back and feel the muscles bunched there, to feel him shiver under her touch…but apparently her imagination had supplied Slade with a lot of material. He took it, added to her little lusts, and fed it back with such raw power that she'd been almost overwhelmed.

Oh gods.

Warren had started to ask questions though…questions he shouldn't have known to ask. She'd almost ignored it, since it felt so good to be in his arms finally. She wanted to run her lips over his warm skin, taste the fleshy salt of the sweat that beaded there. She liked to listen to the sound of his breathing, liked the way it felt as it slid over her skin. She'd wanted to touch him, memorize the feel of smooth muscles sliding along under her fingers. She liked the feel of strength he gave. Someone like Warren made her feel as though she didn't have to be the strong one anymore. He would take over…be the one to protect her for once, instead of Chaney Chai, the girl who had a hero complex and felt as though she needed to protect everyone.

God damn it.

She shouldn't think about it. It hadn't been real. That much had become obvious when she finally realized that Warren was speaking with Slade's voice, and that the questions he was asking would put him in danger. She had been so pissed off that she broke her restraints and reached out to claw at Slade's face, her fingernails tearing through skin just before she remembered she could fight.

Slade had been trained in martial arts just like her, however, and her feet had still been secured. He pinned her arms down, and still she had shot up to clamp her teeth down on his neck, right over the place where she knew his jugular pumped blood to his brain. She bit down as hard as she could, grinding flesh and even drawing a little blood. Slade's fist came in contact with her head a moment later, but she'd still hung on. Not until they'd used the tazer had she finally been forced to let go. Slade pulled away, swearing, with a huge purple bruise spreading along his neck.

Any other time, Chaney would have felt smug victory at the sight. This time though, all she'd felt was heartrending anger and a hella lot of pain from the electrical current zinging through her nerves. It wouldn't have mattered if he'd made her picture anyone but Warren. Damn him.

Chaney felt a hot tear sliding down her face beneath the blindfold, and cursed the damn straightjacket that wouldn't let her reach up to brush it away.

Warren…

Ethan was the last person to join them, and Will looked around at the group with a sigh. Ethan had learned some self-defense since his first year at school. He was the wiz kid now, their resident smart kid. He knew all the technical stuff that the rest of them had to work around, and had covered their asses several times now. Will had been surprised how effective his 'melting' could be. Nothing could keep him out, be it locked doors or even nullifying objects, and he was getting better at being creative with his ability. Just the other day, he snuck into Lash's locker and put lipstick all over his clothes after the bully had stolen another student's cash.

Zach had finally grown into his height, though he was just as determined as always to impress people. He'd learned how to glow bright enough to blind people, which was very handy for either running away or making a surprise attack. He and Magenta had hooked up, and the two actually made a great pair. Magenta's shape-shifting had become faster, and she'd become a purple belt in karate. She could have advanced further but she refused to wear anything but the purple belt. Her shifting could be done in a split second now, so she could dodge attacks, change back, and kick butt.

Layla could have been considered really powerful and gained a lot of social status in the Hero community, but she was too busy re-foresting the earth…and maybe going a little overboard sometimes. Surprisingly, she got along well with paper companies because they never ran out of material anymore, and there wasn't really anymore deforestation (at least in the area around Maxville).

Will, in comparison, hadn't really changed much. He had learned a little more self defense, and a little more wisdom, mostly thanks to Warren.

He looked over at Sheila. He didn't know much about the girl, but the day that Chaney was brought back into their shared room, he'd seen the girl crying tears of blood. Layla had just swept her into their ranks, and the others accepted her just as easily. When Chaney was recovering, Layla had gone to visit Chaney every day and dragged Will along twice. He watched Sheila hovering and realized when Chaney was kidnapped that her face had turned stony.

Sheila had a good reason to see Chaney back, and Layla was bent on matchmaking between Warren and Chaney. Layla wanted to see Chaney back, and the others were often of the same mind as her.

Now, Warren was in solitary confinement, and he was the one that wanted the students back more than anyone. Not only that, but he was probably their only chance at getting in and back out alive.

"So?" Sheila looked up through her hot pink bangs. She was hugging her knees, and Layla had an arm around her shoulders. Magenta sat on her other side, with Zach hovering nearby. Magenta seemed to have hit it off with the similarly gothic styled girl. Pink and purple, sitting next to each other. "Are we going to get him out or not?"

Will took a deep breath and nodded. "This is probably the craziest thing we've ever done by far. At least with Royal Pain, we knew we were up against the bad guys. If we break Warren out though, as soon as this blows over we're going to be in deep trouble. Are you guys ready for that?"

Layla looked around at the group as they all went quiet to think about it. She tightened her arm around Sheila. "Why are you guys hesitating? This is Warren we're talking about! This is wrong. They can't just lock him up! He's our friend."

"Chaney was our friend too," Zach said. Magenta glanced up at him, and he shrugged. "Sorta. We didn't know her that well, I guess, but I liked her."

Magenta elbowed him in the gut. He coughed, and hurried to correct himself, trying to brush it off. "I just meant she seemed cool." He nodded at his new comment, seemingly satisfied, and Magenta rolled her eyes.

"I liked her too," Ethan said, and reached up to push his glasses back onto his nose. "Anyone that can stand toe to toe with Warren has a lot of guts. Besides, she was very anatomically correct."

Zach grinned. "You mean hot."

Magenta glared at him again, and he moved to defend his gut.

Layla sighed in exasperation. "Chaney IS our friend, and I think Warren loves her. That's all the more reason to get him out. He wants to go after her. SIN won't even go after the captured students—"

"Yet," Will clarified, just to make sure they knew all the facts.

Layla glared. "Warren wants to go get them back, and I do too. We need his help. We're going to need all the help we can get, so we have two reasons to get him out."

"Wait a second, Warren's in love?" Zach asked.

"She's right," said Magenta, in that calm voice of hers that was never bothered by anything, and smacked Zach in the stomach again.

"I agree," said Zach quickly.

"Me too," said Ethan. "After all, if we can't get in trouble for friends, then who can we get in trouble for?"

Sheila was gripping her knees with white knuckles. "I'll do anything I can to help. I want to see Chaney back safe and sound more than anything."

Will sighed. "All right. I want to help them too, so here's what we're going to do…"

Warren sat staring at the wall. Maybe he should have just agreed to cooperate. At least that way, he wouldn't be locked in a cell. He'd have a better chance of getting out if he weren't handcuffed and locked up in a holding cell. They'd taken everything out of the cell that might burn, including most of his clothes. All he'd been given was a pair of special black fire-proof pants that went down to his knees—they even took his shoes and socks. The cell was bare and the air conditioning was on high. He still felt hot though, like he was in a sauna. He was sweating hard, and his hands were smoking again. The 'fireproof' pants had scorch marks where he'd leaned them against the special fabric, so now he had to sit with his legs spread and his hands resting on the metal cot.

He wondered absently how bad guilt had to get before a guy went mad with it. He tipped his head back until it hit the wall and started staring at the ceiling, and wondered why it hurt so bad that he had let her down. Razing's story had put a stake through his chest.

How could things have happened like that? He couldn't believe it. He thought his life had been pathetic because his dad was a super villain and he'd been put away for four lifetimes. The truth was not only worse, it was more than he could handle.

And Chaney…

For most of his life, Warren had felt powerful. He was assured in the fact that he could kick the ass of anyone who bugged the crap out of him, and now…somehow now, with more power than he'd ever had, he'd never felt weaker. In the last month, he'd failed a lot of people. Sophie, the kids he'd killed, his friends, his classmates, and even, indirectly, his parents. The one person he'd failed more than anyone, though, was Chaney. He hadn't even realized how many times he'd failed her until Razing's story.

Damn it, but that had just about been the last straw. He thought he'd be able to handle the truth, but he couldn't.

How could so much have happened in his life that he hadn't even remembered? Then again, how could so many of the memories that he was just recovering be so uninformed? He felt like he had another life tucked away in his mind—a life someone else had lived.

Warren reached up to run the hand that wasn't cuffed to the cot through his hair. He shouldn't have given a damn about the responsibility of another person. Chaney wasn't his. He could barely remember being her friend as a child.

Damn it, but he did care. If he ever got out of here, he was going to get her back. He might not deserve her friendship—hell, he might not even deserve to know her—but he was going to make sure she was safe again if it put him in prison for five lifetimes.

Warren fired up his free hand and threw another fireball at the closed door of his cell. The ball hit the hard metal of the door and dissipated, leaving scorch marks and doing nothing more. Old scorch marks lined the wall from previous attempts, and so far he hadn't made any more progress.

Guess he was going to have to wait for a better chance to get out.

Magenta was sneaking through the vents again, a key in her mouth. Talk about déjà vu. She hadn't done this since Royal Pain.

The vent to Warren's room was just ahead, and she noted that it was getting very hot. Man, Warren really was getting stronger. It felt like the inside of an oven, and she was feeling a little dizzy by the time she reached the vent. Warren was sitting handcuffed on a cot just below her, straight across from the door. Will was planning on busting the door in, and just as Ethan had said, Warren was secured right in front of it. Heat was rolling off of him in waves that rippled through the air and made the room look like an illusion in the desert. Wow.

Magenta wiggled the key through the vent and heard it hit the floor. "Warren!" Her guinea pig voice was pretty small compared to her normal one, but Warren heard her. He looked up when the key hit the cot, and turned to the vent.

"Magenta?"

"Get the key! Ethan got it for you. It'll open the handcuffs," Magenta said, and Warren pushed up off the cot. His cuffed hand was held fast, so he couldn't move very far.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"We're getting you out, dummy! Now hurry up and get away from the door!"

Will crouched down in the hallway, carefully looking around the bend. The guards standing outside Warren's cell were replaced every four hours, and it had already been three for these guys. They were getting tired, and they weren't paying as much attention as they had been. He wasn't sure what their powers were, but he was fairly certain that between him and his friends, they could handle two men.

He looked back at Layla and Sheila. Layla was holding Warren's clothes, which the guards had taken away.

"You ready?" he mouthed to Sheila. She nodded.

Will looked back around the corner just as a bright light began glowing around the other side of the hallway, behind another bend in the corridor. The guards turned to look down the hall toward it, and Will turned back to usher Sheila forward. She slipped forward to pass him, and Will looked up at the security cameras. The light wasn't on, and the camera wasn't moving. Ethan had taken care of that part of the security system. The rest was up to them.

"Will!" Sheila whispered, and Will stood to move around the corner with Layla on his heels. The two guards hit the floor with a heavy thud, and Layla gasped.

"You didn't kill them?" she asked. Sheila shook her head.

"Unconscious. Will, the door," she said, and Will slipped past them to grab the door's handle. He braced himself to yank it open, and just broke the handle off. Oops. Oh well. He'd planned to punch it in anyway. He glanced back and gestured for the two girls to step back.

"Warren, stand back from the door," he said to the warm metal surface. Magenta had gone in before them to make sure Warren was out of the way—and Will probably couldn't be heard through the metal anyway—but he said it just to feel sure. A muffled answer came from within, and Will wound up to land a hard punch right to the center of the door. The metal buckled as his knuckles hit it, and the door flew inward. Heat came rolling outward from the room, and Warren stepped out, still in the middle of removing his handcuffs.

"Thanks," he said, and slapped Will on the shoulder. Zach had come around the corner, and Warren pointed his thumb back into the room.

"Magenta needs to be pulled out of that vent," Warren said, and Will nodded before glancing back at Layla, who was carefully averting her eyes from Warren's naked torso.

"Um…here's your clothes. Sheila managed to sneak them away from the guards in the other room…" She held out the torn jeans and his t-shirt and jacket.

"Thanks," Warren said again, and reached out to grab the jeans and pull them on over the pants he already wore. Will stepped into the stifling cell and reached up to tear off the vent. He held a hand up to the metal and waited as Magenta crawled onto his hand. He set her on the ground so she could change back, and walked out the door. Warren was just slipping on his t-shirt and took his jacket from Layla.

"All right," Will said. "We just committed a crime. It's time to get out of here before we're caught."

"Good idea," said a new voice, and the group turned to find Principal Powers standing just behind Zach with her hand on his shoulder. Ethan stood behind her looking guilty.

Will swallowed hard. "Principal Powers…"

"We can explain…" Sheila started.

Layla stepped in front of Warren. "We couldn't let them lock Warren up. It wasn't right, so we had to get him out."

Powers nodded. "I know. I'm glad you did." She glanced back at Ethan, who wasn't quite as short as he used to be. She looked straight back at him. "Ethan has closed off the observation system leading to the main halls. If you're going to get out, I suggest you do it quickly, before a task force is mobilized."

Warren had his socks and shoes on now, and when he slipped his jacket on, he looked over at her. "We're going after the others."

She nodded again. "I know. But you're not going to get very far without this." She held out a piece of paper, and Layla took it slowly. She unfolded it and looked down

"It's a map," she said.

Powers nodded. "That shows the location where we think Slade is keeping the students. Will can fly you all over, and a spy of ours will meet you there. She will take you in and help get the others out."

Magenta looked at the map over Layla's shoulder. "But that's…"

Powers nodded. "Near the cavern where Miss Chai asked to have the game held. We didn't discover until too late that Slade had been watching us."

Warren took the paper from Layla and looked down at it. Will watched his jaw clench, and he balled the paper into his fist. "We're going," he said to Powers, and turned to start down the hallway.

"Peace," Powers called, and Warren turned.

"Bring them back safe," she said.

He nodded.

"Come with us," Sheila said, but Powers shook her head.

"I have to stay here," she said. "Sky High may have been destroyed, but I still have a responsibility to watch over my students. I'm counting on the seven of you to bring the rest back to me."

"We won't let you down," Will said, and they turned to leave…

…And found Sophie Freeze standing in their path.

Uh oh. Will looked over at Warren again. She just might be holding a grudge against Warren for spurning her, and that could be potentially dangerous for all of them. "Now look, Sophie," he started.

She turned a glare on him. "Shut up, Stronghold. I'm going with you."

Sheila stepped up, looking angry. "What makes you think you can?"

Sophie crossed her arms, and ice crept up them. "If you don't take me with you, I could always scream."

Sheila flipped her off. "You don't even give a damn about Chaney. You hate her, you jealous bitch."

Sophie raised her eyebrows. "I don't recall asking you, Bloodhound. Besides, I'd be more tactful in your situation."

"Sophie, this is going to be dangerous," Layla said slowly, holding her hands out to appease Sophie. "We could get killed—or even if we don't, we're probably going to be thrown in prison for the rest of our lives."

"I'm still going," Sophie said. "I have an interest in this as well," she said, and her gaze fell on Warren. Was it just Will's imagination, or was that gaze as cold as her powers?

"No," Sheila said. "You almost killed Chaney once already."

Sophie looked smug when she cocked her head. "Chai's not the only person we're going to rescue, if I'm not mistaken. Or have you all forgotten the others?"

Will looked up when he heard a strange sound from Warren, and found a hard look on his face. "Just let her come," Warren said.

Sheila looked unwilling. "Only if she swears she won't try to kill Chaney again."

Sophie smiled coldly. "I swear, I won't even try."

Will cut in before anyone else could say anything. If they stood around any longer they were going to get caught. "If you're coming, then come. We're leaving right now."

"You're too stubborn," came the voice from the next cell over. They had moved her again, and this time it was apparently an open cell with regular steel bars, from what she could tell. At least, that's what it seemed like since the guy next to her had been talking on and off for the past three hours. When Chaney still didn't answer—hello, gag?—he sighed and continued. "I have no idea what you must see in that guy…in Warren."

Chaney gave a half-hearted snort. She'd been surprised when she realized he had been captured too, but they'd only put her in the cell next to his after her little stunt with Slade. These cells were made of steel, the one substance which, for some reason or other, Phaden couldn't phase through. He was stuck same as her.

She heard him hit the bars and slide to the floor. "This is one hell of a sucky situation," he said.

Got that right, Chaney thought. She was reluctant to pull herself back out of the drowsy stupor they'd put her in for the past two hours. She hated being drugged, but the affects were wearing off. Unfortunately, she still felt as though her brain were made out of cotton balls.

"Do you think they'll try to rescue us?" He asked.

She couldn't answer that one—and not just because her mouth was gagged.

He sighed. "Can you make it over here? I can't get through these bars but I can reach through to take off some of your restraints. I hate talking to someone who can't talk back. Especially since I owe you an apology."

Maybe. If she could coerce her limbs into moving again. It took her a while to summon the initiative to move at all, but after a few minutes—and another question from Phaden, Chaney finally forced her body to sit up and slide her legs carefully over the side of the metallic island. She wasn't sure how far away the floor was, but she slid off anyway, leaning back as she did so. It didn't quite work how she was hoping, but then, drugs had that affect sometimes. Her feet hit the floor and she toppled, her hip hitting the ground and her head bouncing off it a moment later, the machine giving her skull a good bump where it bit into her scalp.

Owwww. She groaned through her gag, and faintly heard Phaden asking if she was okay. Right. She'd be okay when her head no longer felt full of spiderwebs…or cotton candy. She liked cotton candy—especially the strawberry flavored kind. Strawberry was her favorite flavor in anything.

"Chaney!"

Oops. Wasn't she doing something? Oh yeah, she needed to move toward the other side of the cell so Phaden could take off her gag. She just had to follow the sound of Phaden's voice. Wait. She wasn't sure how she knew it was Phaden. Had he told her his name at some point?

"Chaney, if you can't come just stay there. Take it easy," he said, and she groaned again.

This was just pathetic. She needed to get over there. Chaney flopped onto her back then, wishing she at least had her arms, and put her bound feet on the floor to push herself back. She felt like an inchworm—that was probably all the ground she was covering too—and she had to take a break to recover her strength every few feet.

"Chaney?" she heard Phaden ask.

Damn it, why was this so hard? And exactly how far away were those stupid bars?

"Whoa. Stop there. You'll hit the bars."

Chaney stopped where she was and turned her face toward the voice. A moment later she felt Phaden's fingers on the back of her head, loosening the gag and dropping it out of her mouth.

She stretched her jaw, trying to relieve the discomfort. "Better," she croaked, and was surprised when her blindfold came off as well.

"I imagine it would definitely feel that way," Phaden said, and sat back.

Chaney stared up at the ceiling dully. "I suppose they'll have to go back on before long," she said.

"Mmm. They wouldn't be too happy if they figured out that I could help get your restraints off."

Chaney chuckled, and the sound seemed to echo in her head. At least it was getting better. "I doubt they'd be too worried because you can't get this damn machine off my head. Slade set it up so only he could remove it. It's set up to explode and take my head with it if anyone but him tries to take it off." She closed her eyes and thought of Warren, and the cave. "Phaden, what happened in the cave?"

Phaden didn't answer right away. He leaned his back against the bars so his side was inches from her. "Speed and Lash were pulled in for revenge. They've been holding a grudge against Peace and the gang since they were let out on parole earlier this year. It was easy to talk them into it. I've never liked Peace much myself, but I was in it for the money."

Focus, Chaney, focus. This was important. She needed her brains to work. She needed to ask another question. "Who…who hired you?" she finally asked.

"Some shadow woman. I never saw her face, and we only met once. After that, I got contacted a couple times by phone. The voice was different, but it was still female."

That had to mean something. She just didn't know what at the moment. Something else caught her attention though, and she thought of Warren in the cave, and watched him getting tossed around like a rag doll again. The next question came out on its own. "What did they ask you to do?"

"Kick Warren's ass. Do some damage, break a few bones, make sure he was out of commission for a few months. I could have sworn we did it too, but nothing tuned out the way it was supposed to." His voice faded away, and he ducked his golden head in shame. "I still can't believe they're dead. When I saw Warren walking around like nothing had happened, I thought he might have really done it, but I'm still not sure."

Chaney let that thought drift around in her foggy brain for a moment, not entirely sure what to think of it. "Why did they ask?"

Phaden shrugged. "They were going to do something, and didn't want Warren around for it. Maybe it was the attack on the school. They wanted to bring him in easy, which would have been fine if he were injured."

That made Chaney chuckle again. "Instead they lost a bunch of supers and didn't even manage to catch him." She might not have any dibs on Warren, but she was damn proud of him.

"Nope. He got away clean and they only got about sixty students in the entire school. Out of eight hundred, that's pretty small. I think they took the most powerful kids though."

That scared her, even through the drugs. "Do you know what they want us for?"

Phaden shrugged. "No. All I know is that they want Warren, and they're going to try again."

Why the hell did they want Warren so bad? He was immensely powerful, but Slade had a lot of cronies. Why be so interested in just one?

"You know, I heard that Slade's going after Will again. He's not always here, when he's not interrogating you. He's gone right now, actually. Probably going after Warren again."

Warren. She'd probably put him in more danger after Slade's questioning, and now Slade was going after him.

"Phaden, do you want to get out of here?" Chaney asked.

"Yeah, but your machine thing will blow as soon as we step out those doors."

Chaney paused. How did he know that?

"Phaden?"

"Yeah?"

"Why didn't you die in the cave?" She twisted her head to look over at him.

Phaden shrugged again. "I don't know. I don't know why Jake lived either. It was weird. I thought we were safe when you pulled us over, but then everything went black. I guess I shouldn't have lived if the explosion was as bad as everyone thinks…but then again, you lived too."

Chaney narrowed her eyes as she stared at the ceiling, and with the drugs distilling most of the guilt she'd felt over surviving, she noticed that it did seem kind of weird. If her shield had really been faulty, wouldn't she have died too? Only three people had been killed, when there had been six, including her, who would have all been crushed if the attack had hit them head on. Had something other than the attack killed them?

Suddenly, the door to her cell opened, and Chaney looked up. Golden Boy was walking in, and when he saw Chaney by Phaden's bars, he smiled.

Will was carrying an old army Hummer that they had borrowed from the compound. Ethan had taken out the low-jack and they all climbed in as the halls started ringing with alarms and SIN agents filled the underground compound. Then they had dodged two helicopters and three armored trucks on their way out. Boy, but some people were up in arms over their disappearance.

It was three hours later now, and Warren had to wonder if the trip to the game had felt this long. Nothing but desert stretched out below them, with a few rocky red structures riddled with caves. It was the same scene they'd been staring at for miles.

They had wrapped a chain through four of the windows to give Will a criss-crossed handhold as they flew. Zach, Ethan, and Magenta looked green as cucumbers, since apparently a flying car got more turbulence than a sleek plane. Sheila sat in the back looking worried about getting puked on, and Layla was sitting shotgun next to Sophie, her head hanging out the window and a smile on her face. Warren sat in the driver's seat to watch the terrain, and went over the map again. He'd been giving Will directions for most of the trip, trying to ignore the feel of Sophie's breasts pressed against his arm. She seemed to be pretending that there wasn't enough room on the seat, and that they had to squish to fit.

He wished she would just back off, but he didn't want to start that conversation here, in front of his friends. Next chance he got, though, he was officially breaking it off. He had been relieved when going out with her calmed some of the side affects of his power morph, but he didn't owe her anything anymore.

So she really didn't need to keep her hand on his leg. He pushed it off again.

"Are we almost there?" Sophie asked as she shifted her head on his shoulder. She started to stretch, and the move pressed her breast and hip against him. He sighed in frustration. He was thiiiiiiis close to kicking her butt out of the car, flying or not.

Sheila snorted in the back. "Hussy," she said.

Sophie turned around—toward Warren, of course—and had her body all but plastered against his side as she faced Sheila down. "Excuse me?" she asked.

Warren pushed Sophie off, and she looked over at him. "Can't breathe," he said simply. The move was supposed to suspend the coming fight, but Sheila wasn't as easily distracted.

Sheila leaned forward. "You heard me, Sophie Freeze. You seemed to think Warren had the plague after Save the Citizen, but now suddenly that people think he's gained some new power you're acting like a Mary Sue with her favorite celebrity."

No kidding, Warren thought. She wasn't nearly this bad before the game. She hadn't been quite as jealous either.

Well…he supposed she had good reason for that…

"Excuse me, miss Neon, but we never actually broke up," Sophie said, sounding indignant. "I was just giving him time to get over the shock of it all."

Sheila laughed. "Yeah right. More like you didn't want anyone in the school to associate you with him—as long as it was social suicide. Now…well, that's a different story, isn't it?"

Sophie raised a hand to ice Sheila, and Warren reached up to grab her wrist. "Stop it, you two," he said, and Sophie contented herself with glaring at Sheila before turning back around in the seat and settling more firmly against Warren. She lifted a leg to hook it possessively over his lap.

Warren swallowed his irritation and just pushed the leg back off. "Sophie," he warned, and his arm started smoking. Sophie jumped and backed off. "You know I don't like to be crowded," he said. "Now stop it, or I swear you'll have the ugliest break up you've ever experienced."

Sophie pouted. "But Warren…" She shifted away, and sighed. "You know, it's funny how you seem to like spending more time with some punk chick than with your girlfriend."

"Hey! That punk chick is ten times the woman you'll ever be!" Sheila shouted from the back seat.

"Stay out of this, Sheila," Warren said.

Sophie shifted to face him down. "No, it's fine. Everyone's here, so you have to be honest in front of your friends. What happened in the cave, Warren? Phaden said you guys were looking pretty chummy when you walked in. I thought it was just an accident that we were separated, but now I'm wondering if I was wrong."

Warren ground his jaw together. "Nothing happened." Big lie.

Sophie laughed. "Funny. The way you say that makes it sound like it wasn't nothing."

"Oh! Duuuude, seriously, did something happen?" Zach asked from the back, sounding curious despite his air-sickness. Magenta gave him a glare. Everyone in the car seemed to sit forward—even Ethan in the far back—and everyone's faces in the rearview mirror looked hopeful. Everyone but Sophie.

"Shut up Zach," Warren said.

"No, no. Don't shut up, Zach," Sophie said. "We have to get him to tell us what happened. I bet that bitch made a move on you, didn't she?"

Warren moved to grab her arm again, and Sophie faced him down with a glare. "Don't insult my friends again," he warned, and he knew as well as she did that he was just barely hanging on to his temper. "Any of them. If you really want to continue this, we can do it later. But just so you know, we are OVER. Got it?"

Sophie pulled her hand away and kept glaring, but now there were tears in her eyes.

How had he ever hooked up with this girl? Next time he went out with anyone, he was going to make sure she wasn't such a clingy, jealous whiner. A picture of Chaney sprang into his head then, and he turned to look out the window quickly, wiping his mind clear of that image. Even if he did manage to get her back, the two of them had too much bad history together to ever hook up.

"Warren! Guys, everyone, look!" Layla brought her head back in the window and pointed at a familiar opening in the ground. "That's where we played the game."

Warren nodded. "It shouldn't be far now," he said, and leaned out the window to tell Will.

The flying car sped up then as Will put on a new burst of speed, and Warren pulled his head back into the rocking car. Will was looking a little tired, but he could hold on for the last leg of the trip. Warren was more worried about what they'd do when they got there.

He chuckled. "Sorry, but I have orders. Well, maybe I'm not sorry, but when you look like you're in so much pain I feel like that's what I'm supposed to say."

He was sitting on a table by her side. The floor was covered in water, and Chaney was on her knees in it with her arms handcuffed and pulled up over her head. Chaney's head was flung back after the last shock, her body limp.

"What's…the point…of this?" Her voice rasped. Her body wanted to just give up, but Golden Boy wasn't asking any questions.

"To discourage you from attempting to leave," he said as he formed a finger into a golden knife to cut off a piece of apple. He popped the piece into his mouth and chewed, which seemed oddly disgusting, somehow. Someone that seemed to be made of liquid shouldn't be able to chew.

Chaney shuddered. "So when…do you decide…that you've made your…point?"

He shrugged. "Slade's not here to stop me, but I guess I'll have to let up before I kill you."

Somehow, that wasn't very comforting.

He chuckled again as her head lolled around. "So, Miss Chai…you should be thanking me, you know. I hate false pretenses, and that's all that you people are made up of. False pretenses—you've lived most of your life under those, I hear." He ate another bite of his apple. "Tell me," he said as he chewed, "doesn't this all make you feel as though everything that has been Chaney Chai is nothing more than a lie? With nothing but pain and anger raging through your body, you're stripped of all your fabrications. Your slate's being wiped clean."

Chaney sucked in a slow breath, letting her body recover slowly from the shocks. She chuckled. "Funny…you're right. Chaney was a good girl. I hate to see her go…Yang will probably murder everyone in this building."

"Mm. We'll see," Golden Boy said, and reached out to send another shock through the water and up into Chaney's body. "Oh, and when you get back to the cell, tell Phaden not to interfere anymore."

Chaney screamed. She couldn't hold on much longer.

Warren…sorry Warren, but she had just realized that the moron was short circuiting her nullifier.

They set down well out of sight of the compound after circling it from a distance that would be hard to spot if anyone was monitoring the sky. Will sat on the roof and Warren drove the rest of the way, until they found a large rock outcropping that made both a nice place to park the car and stay out of sight. The rock had been hollowed out, it looked, and there was a pile of boulders in front of the cave-like entrance. Warren pulled in and cut the engine. They filed out, everyone looking relieved that the rocky trip was finally over, and Layla helped Will down off the roof. Not that he needed it, but he didn't seem to mind the attention.

"So what now?" Will asked, looking a more than a little winded—pun intended.

Warren walked up to the side of the rocks and looked out over the mile of desert sand to the large concrete compound. "Where's the contact?"

"Here," came a voice, and the group turned as one. A shadow slipped out from the others, and they watched as a woman stepped forward that was nothing more than a shade. "Hello everyone," her whispery voice just barely managed to make itself heard. "My name is Shade."

Zach laughed, and Magenta elbowed him in the side. The woman turned a faceless head toward him.

"I'm here to show you in," she said, "but first, I should probably fill you in on a few details."

***************

A/N - WOW this was a long chapter. Sorry if you got lost, a lot happened. Soooooooo anyway, what do you think? I'm gonna give you a hint as to what's coming next: it's going to be similar to Save the Citizen...except, not quite as friendly.


	16. Satisfactory Destruction

A/N - Wow, these chapters just keep getting longer. For those of you who want to know where the romance is, hang on. I can't get mushy with them fighting so hard just to survive...hehe.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! for the reviews. They give me fuel to keep going.

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Chapter 16

Golden Boy hung up his cell phone. "You're in luck, Number Seven. Your hero is on his way."

She must have gasped in the midst of all her spasms, because he gave a breathless chuckle and continued. "I hear from some of our agents that your friends have left SIN. You know, Warren was actually imprisoned, and the Stronghold quartet…or were there five of them? Anyway, they broke him out." He paused. "Remember how I said I hate false pretenses? Well, your presumptuous leader is the ultimate example of your lies. Just so you know, even if your friends come for you, and even if they survive to return, your so-called 'good guys' are going to lock them away. IF Slade's attack fails, and the organization still exists by tomorrow."

Chaney's rapid breathing had reached a crescendo. Warren, coming here? And Slade was going to make an attack on SIN? He could only mean the underground compound. Oh no. Oh shit.

Damn it, that idiot was coming here. The stupid moron was probably going to get himself killed. He should have just stayed brainwashed and oblivious. Damn it, but Sky High would have evacuated and moved to SIN's headquarters. Everyone was in danger.

Chaney laughed around her gag, the tears still flowing. Okay, that was it. No more miss nice girl.

"Imn 'onna 'ill 'ou," she said around her gag, and Golden Boy just laughed. He moved forward to begin undoing her handcuffs.

Then he reached down suddenly to undo her gag. "You know, that bastard Razing killed my sister. She was one of the few that were too dangerous to leave lying around, apparently, but he chose others to take into his little factory and had her killed. The hypocrite has been training an army of murderers to do his bidding, but not her. Not Sadie. Her, he left in pieces on her own living room floor. You know, she was a mother with two kids and a husband that needed her. Not to mention a brother that loved her."

He lifted Chaney's head to look her in the eyes. "What do you think of all your lies now? As far as I'm concerned, there are no good guys, because the ones that claim to be are a bunch of liars. Slade is more of a man than your Razing."

Chaney smiled around the trail of blood that was running down her chin. "Sorry," she said softly.

He punched her in the face then, and her head snapped to the side. Chaney coughed, just because her muscles were contracting in spasms, and her lungs were pumping out air faster than she needed. She chuckled again, every muscle in her body sore and aching, her stomach muscles contracting again and again so that it felt almost natural to laugh—well, it would have if it didn't hurt so damn much. This was it. She was going to get out of here if it killed her. The biggest impediment between her and freedom was this damn nullifier, and it would just kill her if she didn't figure out a way to get rid of it before it got the chance.

She was a dead girl anyway, but better her than the others.

Golden Boy begin taking her handcuffs off, and Chaney waited, trying to clear her mind, and forced her lungs to take slow, deep breaths to calm her body. This was the moment of truth. If she damaged the machine too much, it would just blow up. If she was too late, or if the impact jarred her brain so her reaction was late, it would just blow up. She needed to focus hard enough to attack the moment it weakened.

Click. There it was. She was free.

Taking a deep breath, Chaney shoved up onto her feet and then arced back, throwing her body back with her head hurtling toward the ground. She felt the impact rattle her bones, but held on to her focus as hard as she could. Where was the power blackout? Ah. There it was. She felt its control on her powers waver, and she struck.

The machine dissolved into liquid and fell into a metallic puddle on the floor, and Chaney's bare head hit the cold tiles.

"What the hell?" Golden Boy shaped his arm into a long sword and was about to drive it into her chest when she flipped over and threw him against the wall. She landed on her feet and reached up to tear off her blindfold. He landed in the water.

Chaney held him against the wall, and walked up to stand in front of him. "Like I said, I'm sorry," she said, and pulled him away from the wall just enough to smash him back, knocking him unconscious. His golden skin faded, becoming normal human flesh, and she hesitated. Maybe she was just a sucker, but she didn't feel like killing him anymore. It wasn't as though Razing had never done her harm anyway, so she couldn't really hate a guy for being bitter. She was still breathing hard, and her body still ached from his ungentle methods, but she moved the stone wall to roll around him, securing him in place without crushing him.

That was the last mercy she would be showing today, however. She would not hesitate to kill him if he attacked her again.

"Guess Chaney Chai isn't completely gone," she said, and turned to move for the door. The control room was not far away, and she would be able to contact Phaden over the speakers that were installed into the cells.

She opened the door to find a man dragging Phaden up the hallway. The guy looked at her in surprise, and raised a hand with a gun in it.

That was it? Chaney threw him back down the hallway and dropped a supply shelf on him. He fell still, and she looked at Phaden.

"You look like shit," Phaden said.

Chaney smirked. She was still breathing hard, was covered in water and sweat, she hadn't showered since she got here, and her itty-bitty tank and mini shorts were both white. And wet. Phaden's eyes dropped, and she grabbed hold of his handcuffs—which had been secured behind him—and lifted them up. He hissed in pain.

"Hello there Phaden," she said. "What a coincidence that you're being led down the hallway just as I walk out."

He groaned in pain. "They were going to take me somewhere. Maybe move me, but probably just going to kick my ass again for taking your damn gag off. Stupid me, I should have just kept talking to your corpse."

Chaney rolled her eyes, gave his arms another tug, and after he'd gasped in pain she unfastened the handcuffs and dropped them to the floor. Phaden straightened to rub his wrists.

He made sure not to look at her again, and she looked down the hall behind him. Her powers were taking their time to wake up, for some reason, but she could feel them gaining strength as they swirled through her body.

Warren was coming with the others. Will, Layla, Magenta, Zach, and Ethan…Chaney thought about Sheila, and wondered if she would have come along too. Her roommate. She wished she'd had more time to get to know the girl, but today would probably be it for Chaney Chai. Damn the idiots, but she had to do something to make sure they didn't come in.

Chaney sighed. "Will you follow my lead for a while?"

He grinned at her and nodded. "Let's go," he said, and she brushed by him to begin walking down the hall.

Then the alarms went off.

"Two hundred?" Warren asked.

Shade nodded. "The rest are civilians. Some of them will be armed, but for the most part, this is just a power plant with a few extra labs for experimentation. Most of the humans you run into will either cower or run. The two hundred supers that have been placed here, however, are all at least third level supers."

"Third level?" Layla asked.

"She's talking about the three levels of supers," Ethan said. "It's not often referred to except when people are trying to judge power. First level is lowest, third is highest, with a top ranking that is known worldwide. Anyone in the top ten has more power than any of us can handle."

"So I'm in the third level, right?" Zach asked enthusiastically. Magenta sighed and shook her head.

Ethan gave his friend an apologetic look. "Actually, we're at the bottom end of the first level. Layla's at the top end of the second, and Will's probably somewhere in the middle of the third."

"That's stupid," Layla said. "Rankings are just another way of labeling people. It's so wrong."

Ethan shook his head. "Actually, it's just an objective way of measuring power so other supers know what they're up against."

Shade cleared her throat—well, it sounded like it, at least. It was weird to hear a shadow clear its throat. They gave her their attention again. "Slade isn't here right now, so this is the best time to move in…"

"Where is he?"

If Shade had had an expression, it would have probably been getting pissed. "Elsewhere. I'm not entirely sure. He's supposedly preparing for an attack on SIN's underground headquarters. Now listen. The students are being held in building nine. Security's tight, but most of the buildings have fewer guards than theirs. I'm taking you to an adjacent building and you'll have to get in to rescue them on your own. Be ready to fight."

Suddenly, a corner of one of the buildings blew up. The group turned as one and spotted a plume of smock rising up from one of the buildings on the far side of the complex.

Shade was the first to speak. "Well, I guess there's no longer any need for subtlety."

"Maybe leaving behind a hole in the wall wasn't very subtle," Phaden said.

Chaney smiled. "I kinda liked the fireworks." She was leaning over the security controls, looking at the monitors. She pointed at two screens near the bottom left. There were numbers corresponding with cell blocks on the bottom of the screens, and Chaney glanced down at the controls. Nice of them to label everything. Unfortunately, the alarms were still ringing, and she wanted to be heard, so she turned them off first, then tried to locate the right speakers. Cell blocks seventeen and eighteen…she flipped the speakers on, and leaned over to the mike that was secured to the right side of the controls.

"Attention, Sky High students," she said. "This is Chaney Chai, fourth year student of Sky High, and fellow prisoner to you all. I'm in the security booth with a couple of unconscious guards, and I'm a little pissed about being held here against my will. What about you all?" She saw arms coming out of cell walls, waving, and a cheer went up. That should raise their spirits. "I'm opening the cell doors. Get your asses out of there. Look for Phaden, he'll lead you out of the buildings." She stepped away from the booth then and crushed the whole consol with a wave of her hand. The screens turned to static and no sound came through. That should keep Slade's cronies from tracking them through this building at least. She moved away from the controls then to begin going through the file cabinets by the door.

"Um…you just told them where you are," Phaden said. Chaney nodded as she pulled several papers out. Log books. She tossed them over her shoulder and opened another drawer.

"I did," she said. "But just FYI, I'm not going with you to get them out."

"What?" Phaden watched as she pulled out more papers and tossed them aside.

"You're going to join up with a group of sixty powerful supers. Set up a perimeter group of six or seven of them and start fighting your way out. Keep the first years toward the middle of the group and the seniors on the outside. Slade's cronies will probably try to reclaim their prisoners, but I'll be making a damn big racket elsewhere, and you're going to try to keep it quiet. That should lower the number of supers that go your way. Aha!" She handed him the building plans and started walking back out the door. Phaden was probably getting a damn good view of her backside in these stupid shorts, but she didn't care. "Use those to move through the buildings toward the outside of the compound. I've heard more than a few jets moving through this place, so try to threaten a pilot into flying you out of here." She glanced back. Phaden was going over the maps, trying to find a hanger.

One of Slade's men came running around the corner behind them then. She slammed her hands together, and the two walls on either side of the hall flew in to crush the man. Blood and rubble fell to the floor, and Phaden straightened from the crouch he'd immediately fallen into.

He looked up at her.

She continued, not waiting for his response. "On your way through the buildings, hit the security booths to knock out the cameras. The less you can be tracked, the better. Got it?" Her head was killing her. Something at the back of her neck burned, and it just fueled her anger. "Let me warn you right now, Phaden, I will kill you too if you betray those kids," she said.

He looked uncertain as he watched her, his eyebrows narrowed. He nodded. "Are you okay?"

She turned to stalk back down the hallway, and reached down to pull a long black trench coat off of another guard they'd knocked out on their way to the booth. She threw it on over her tank and shorts, blood and all, and kept moving in bare feet. "I'm fine," she said. "I've just been reminded why I am who I am. Someone's gotta do the dirty work so everyone else can be safe."

"What's your plan?" Phaden asked.

"Get the kids out, kill everyone else, destroy the compound," Chaney said.

"That's suicide," Phaden said. He reached out and grabbed her arm. "No matter how powerful you are, there are at least two hundred of the world's most powerful villains in this place. The idiots you've swept away so far have been cannon fodder to tire you."

Chaney yanked her arm out of Phaden's grasp. "I know that. Doesn't change anything."

"You're a fool, Chaney!"

Chaney laughed. "You think that matters? Slade was the fool, when he chose to mess with me."

"Chaney!"

Chaney whirled. "Get your ass down to cell blocks seventeen and eighteen. I'm heading further in."

Phaden took another step toward her. "Chaney…"

She grinned at him. "Don't worry, kiddo. Today you're going to learn what it means to have resolution. Now go." She pointed up at an arrow on the wall that had 17 next to it.

Phaden swallowed, and nodded. "Bye Chaney," he said, and turned down the hall.

She watched him running down it, and took a deep breath.

Well, this was it.

"Slade, you bastard, I'm going to enjoy this," she said, and started walking down the hall, blowing up everything in sight.

Warren was walking up to the compound with his body wrapped in flames. Will and the others were coming in from another direction, and were going to move straight for building nine. Warren was the distraction, and he already had a huge audience gathering in front of the compound. Well, huge meaning at least three tanks, maybe a dozen jeeps with machine guns, and a bunch of little ants…at least, that's what they looked like from this distance. He doubted too many of them were supers.

"Hang on, Chaney," he said.

Wow. There really were a lot of them.

Chaney kept getting hit by hard winds, or by creepy-crawly guys that were walking along the walls and attacking her from odd angles. At one point she was jumped on by a panther, which she immediately flung into his oncoming comrades. Blood was now trickling down her face from the panther's claws, and she was getting angrier. Then, when she got pushed out into the huge open space of a warehouse, they really started hounding her.

Chaney ducked a flying ball of crushed metal, twisted it midair, and shaped it into a spear before sending it back. She leapt over the attack of a wolf and flipped, pulling down a lamp from the warehouse ceiling onto its head, and then hit the ground in a roll to avoid the lash of a metal beam. The cement got a crater in it, and the sound of the spider web cracks spreading caught her attention just before the crushed cement could trip her. Some giant guy was swinging around a construction beam like it was a longsword. He was starting to annoy her, so she threw him upwards and through the roof—all eighteen feet of him. A lanky brunette was using levitation to throw everything in sight at Chaney, and at the moment that happened to be a tank. Chaney took hold of the tank midair and dissolved it, taking it with her as she swung a foot around in a karate kick to a close-quarters human with no power. The tank became a metallic shield, blocking someone's laser beam gaze and the gunfire from an approaching group of armed men. Her foot took the Normal out of commission, and Whack! Her fist caught another human in the nose, and thanks to her power it sent him hurtling toward a super that flattened to the floor to avoid the hit. The jell-o man came back up and started for Chaney, but she brought the liquid tank back around and wrapped half of it around him, and another half around the Levitating Woman. She threw the hardened steel cocoons across the chamber, and whirled as another super came running in with super speed and a lot of sharp pointy objects. Chaney halted the swarm of kitchen utensils and sent them back at their thrower, which she tried to do while simultaneously grabbing a lot of cargo and hurling it at the gun-group. Then, because the giant was coming back down, she moved him just slightly, and he came crashing through the roof and slammed a crate down in front of her to block more knives. The giant fell on the knife guy, who was not moving around so much as just throwing knives at her as fast as he could. Fortunately, the giant's impact had been unexpected and took the knife thrower off guard, and also took out a few other Normals who happened to be in the way. Chaney gathered more building materials and started moving forward with them swirling around her, giving her cover. It took more concentration, which was why she didn't usually do it, but she needed the protection. She couldn't die just yet.

Chaney was moving steadily toward the other end of the warehouse, in the opposite direction that the rest of the kids would be taking. She had to get out of the open before she was hit…a fireball hit the cement near her feet, and dissipated with nothing to burn. She looked up, immediately thinking it was Warren, and swore when she discovered another fireball just yards from her and closing in fast. She hit the ground as it went over her head, and jumped back up after its passing.

The stupid pyrokinetic was female. Chaney reached out, lifted the girl several yards into the air, and slammed her into the ground as hard as she could, making a hole in the cement that would take a few days to fix. Chaney sucked in a deep breath then, and, focusing on every object she could see immediately, she lifted cars, tanks, crates, guns, ammunition containers, and building materials into the air, along with at least two supers, and started turning them all clockwise. She couldn't control wind, but she could make it. She stepped back slowly as most of her opponents were distracted with the growing vortex of flammable materials and heavy machinery, and caught up a large piece of sheet metal. Folding it into disk, she hopped on and tore open the roof to lift her ride up through the ceiling and into the open air. Now she had an advantage. Only supers who could fly would be up here, and she could attack the ones on the ground from this position.

Now it would be perfect if she weren't so afraid of heights.

Chaney swallowed and looked around. She really needed to get a grip. It felt like the disk was tipping under her, even though it was holding perfectly still. She crouched on it and moved a hand over the metal to have it mold up around her feet, securing her in place. All right. Much better. She straightened to look around.

Was this really it? Many of the supers had to be busy elsewhere, which was making it easier for her to deal with them, but really, her biggest challenge seemed to be keeping up with all of them. Slade seemed to have just recruited people with natural talent but no training. Everyone coming at her was specialized in either short-range or long-range combat, and so far, never both. She needed to back off and make bigger attacks though, much as she hated to expend the extra energy. She wasn't tired yet, but she was feeling the beginning of a headache coming on. The focus it required to fight at such high speeds was more taxing to her than the use of power.

She had to hang on though. If the Idiot was coming, then this place needed to be a mess. She figured at least seventy of the supers would go after the kids. If she made enough racket, she could attract most of the others to her, and she was planning on making another diversion that would lead at least half elsewhere.

Let's see…power tower should be around here somewhere. Smoke was drifting up from two buildings over, where she'd first started her attack. Plumes of smoke and new explosions were coming up from all three buildings she'd been in, and a particularly huge explosion just rose up from her far left. Phaden was really taking the kids to the hanger. Good.

BOOM! Chaney turned to face the desert behind her, and her jaw dropped. It looked like a war was being waged on the red sand not far from the compound, with tanks, trucks, and foot soldiers getting thrown by columns of flame. There was a huge circle around what looked like a great bonfire, and balls of flame were shooting out from it like cannonballs tearing through the ranks.

Sweet gods, it was him.

"Warren…" she whispered, and then suddenly something hit her from behind, and she gasped as she went hurtling toward the ground.

Warren could see the destruction on the compound from where he stood in the middle of a scorched field. The tanks were melted, the cars exploding, and the men who were still breathing were running for their lives. His eyes were watering from the smoke, but now he was running, because he'd just seen a gigantic human go flying half a mile up in the air, and there was only one person among all the kidnapped students who had that kind of strength. His side ached, and he felt the cool breeze touching his blood-dampened flesh. The bullets had been the only things to reach him. He'd felt two hit his side, one went through his shoulder, and one had lodged itself in his hip. It hurt to run, but he didn't give a damn. Every time his muscles moved, his damaged flesh screamed in murderous fury. They were just wounds though. It was just physical pain. That was something he could handle—something he could heal. The desperation running through his veins as he saw more and more of the compound being destroyed promised a pain much more vital, however. If he let one more person he knew get killed when there was something he could do to stop it…

He was seeing red now, and his vision was slipping. All the problems he'd been so worked up over for the last few weeks were sloshing around in his brain, too indistinct to recognize, too powerful to forget. Instead, they just fueled his temper until all of them blurred into one mission: get to that idiotic girl and get her out before she got herself killed.

Shit. Bloody Flier took her off guard. What was it? It didn't look human, but it didn't look like an animal either. It looked more like an android. An alien android, with big eyes.

Chaney swiveled her metal disk back underneath her just before she went tearing through the roof of another compound. This time, she ended up in a room full of fuel tanks, and she grinned as an idea came to her. Let's see…a light switch would do…or any regular outlet or power cord. Better yet, there was some sort of machine that looked very usable off to one side. She tore open the fuel tanks and ripped the machine out of the wall, and rose to the ceiling just as the room began exploding. Her metal disk started heating under her as she rode the first pulse of energy up into the sky. She hit the stupid android on its way down, and threw him into the flames. Supers were tough, but they were still mortal. She doubted it would be coming back out of…

That? Well, damn. Here he came again. Fine. Come mess with Chaney Chai. Chaney reached out to wrap a thought around the android's metal plating, and tore it off. Nothing but a boy was underneath, and the look of terror on his face was pretty easy to spot just before he went falling back down into the inferno below them. Something else hit Chaney, and she turned around just as a flock of birds started wheeling toward her. Great. Someone that controlled animals had shown up. She couldn't see the super anywhere nearby, but he/she had to be within sight.

No time to look though. These were vultures—the easiest kind of bird to locate in the desert—and they were definitely acting out of character. Chaney ducked as one dove for her, and its beak took a chunk out of her shoulder. She cried out in pain, and decided to dive back down into the warehouse.

Dropping her control of the disk, Chaney plummeted, leaving the surprised flock of birds well behind her. The warehouse was a mess when she re-entered it, and the floor she was hurtling toward was littered in shards of broken equipment and blood. Her timing was almost off, but she managed to stop the disk just before it could hit the floor, and she zoomed toward a hall exit off to one side. Zooming through it, she passed down a hallway fast enough to cause havoc in her wake, sending papers flying and shelves toppling. The vultures squawked behind her, right on her heels. Chaney ducked around corners and tried to lose them even as she passed up more of Slade's people—one of which was kind enough to try and shoot her with a bazooka, and managed instead to kill half of her entourage. When Chaney came zooming through an open door, she flipped the disk up to halt, and reached down to dissolve it and throw it back over the door, creating a solid metal wall. Fractions of a second later—so soon after her move that she hadn't even hit the ground yet—heavy objects began ramming into the door, leaving huge contours in the smooth metal surface.

Chaney landed in a roll and came to her feet. Now what? Her plan of blowing up the entire compound once the kids got out wouldn't work if the Dream Team had shown up. Shit. Shitshitshitshitshitshit. She might accidentally kill them if she followed through with that plan.

No, she couldn't do that. Well then, guess she'd better just take out as many supers as she could before he got here.

Sighing, Chaney glanced around. This building was made up entirely of machines, and if she blew one up it would probably start a chain reaction. There were crew gangways and platforms ranging all over the building, stretching like anthills all through the heavy machinery. She chuckled. This would do. Above her on another platform, she spotted a fire alarm on one wall. Just above it, an ax sat in a glass case for emergencies. The general alarms had faded to the background once they started up again, and in several of the previous buildings, the explosions had already set off the fire alarms as well. Not here.

She ran down the gangway and up a flight of metal stairs. The metal links of the floor hurt her bare feet, but she thought she heard someone making an entrance on the far side of the building…and shit, but that sounded like her bird barrier was being rammed. She stumbled down the upper platform and pulled the alarm switch, and as the sirens joined the grating beeps of the general alarms, she smashed the glass case with an elbow and pulled out the ax. Taking it out, she glanced around again.

Great…she didn't know anything about these machines. She didn't even know what they were for…so where should she start chopping?

Meh. Might as well just start. She raised the ax high, and brought it down as hard as she could on the nearest round…thing…which looked vaguely like a plastic pipeline.

The ax came down with a loud clang, and the plastic dented. "Idiot, this is probably going to get you killed," she told herself, and lifted the ax again.

Will ducked around the intersection between the hallways and followed the sound of fighting. Layla and the others were hard on his heels, with Sheila far up ahead in the point position. He glanced back.

"Everyone all right?" he asked. They nodded.

"Wait…" Magenta looked around. "Where's Sophie?"

"I thought she was behind you," Ethan said.

Magenta rolled her eyes. "I wasn't really paying attention to her, specifically."

The group glanced at each other, then around them.

"Oh no…" Will had a moment of panic, and wondered what to do.

"We should just keep moving," Layla said. "We can focus on getting the other students out first, and then we'll go back to look for her."

"Guys!" Sheila said, and the group flinched at the volume of her summons. They turned to see her looking around a corner, her expression was excited. She pointed around the corner and gestured for them to hurry, then she jumped away from her position and bolted.

"She must have found them!" Zach said.

"I knew we were getting close," said Ethan.

Finally. This was the third building they had searched, and finally, they'd found the students. Will rounded the corner and found an airline hanger filled with supers, powers whirling everywhere so that it was impossible to tell who was on which side. Will felt the blood drain from his face, and pulled up short. His friends stopped just behind him, and he heard Layla ask, "What now?"

Will looked around. There were only three untouched planes left standing, only one of which was big enough to transport all the students. A group of hard-pressed kids was defending it, and as Will pointed he noticed that many of the students were trying to file into its belly. "We need to get over there and keep that cargo ship in one piece," he said.

Sheila had already disappeared into the action, and the five of them dashed in to join.

***************

A/N btw, I'm having a little writers block with a certain portion of the prose. The next chapter will be out next week, so I'll have a little time to work with the plot. Warren is being difficult, and Chaney's powers seem to want to take center stage. Sigh. Sophie just disappeared on me, and is complaining about the lack of air time. Sheila is anxious to see Chaney again, and the Dream Team kinda only participate when they're needed. Really. Slade just heard about the trouble back at the compound, Golden Boy is waking back up, and the prose is just absolute chaos. So, I'll see ya again in a week.


	17. Mmmmmm Yum

Hey everyone...sorry, I sorta broke my hand and couldn't write for a long time (boy was that torture) and then I was just lazy. I figured I'd make it up to you =)

Chapter 17

How nice of them to draw everyone away. Sophie strolled down the halls, icing everything over as she went. It was kind of fun, honestly. Nobody around, just her and the hallways, and all hell breaking loose elsewhere.

She was whistling by the time she made it into an empty room with water on the floor, and for the first time since she'd arrived she ran into someone alive. His body was made of liquid gold, it looked like, and he was just pulling himself out of what seemed to be a section of twisted wall.

Sophie smiled. She didn't really have anything against the other students, but Warren was hers.

***********************

Warren was vaguely aware of the fact that he was leaving behind a trail of blood, but the wounds would probably seal up soon anyway. No reason to let it distract him.

No. There was no reason to slow down now.

The desert floor would be scorched for a while, but now he was working his way through the first of the buildings, and hopefully he would be able to find Chaney soon. Will had promised to look after the students, but the destruction on the grounds was rapidly multiplying, and it was over too great an area to be covered by a large group. A small group—possibly just a group of one—was moving fast and effectively through the buildings. It was harder to locate just one attacker, versus a group of sixty. Will and the others would be enough to back up the students. Warren's job was to track down their mystery decoy, and give whatever help he could. He heard more explosions ahead, and tore through the two oncoming supers with barely a thought. None of the supers had gotten near him, and these were no exception. Warren blew one through the wall on his right and into the next room. The second went through the ceiling, and Warren hit the guy again on his way down.

The exit door just led to an alley between buildings, but he could see the smoke coming up from the roof. Was she in there? He ran forward, holding his side.

******************************

Oh no. A telekin…whatever. Damn. What were they even called when they could control your body? Chaney's arms froze over her head, and whoever was controlling her had the brains not to step into her line of vision. These kinda guys were the supers she hated most, because if there was anything in the world she truly hated, it was not being in control of her own body.

"Drop the ax," came the order, and Chaney's ax fell to the floor. Her eyes ran over the machinery in front of her, and she looked for something that would help her distract him. The super was standing somewhere a couple yards behind her, from the sound of his voice, and if she could just manage to break his concentration…

The ax was at her feet, and she picked it up with her mind and threw it against the metallic cylinder just to her right. The ax head cut a horizontal hole in the metal, and some kind of white, foamy, freezing cold liquid came spewing out past Chaney to hit the super behind her. The man's control of Chaney slipped, and she whirled to make a counterattack. Too late. He took hold of her body again, and she froze as he moved out of the spray.

"Go jump off the gang plank," he said as he stood there dripping wet, and her eyes went wide as her body turned to do just that.

A fireball slammed into the man then, and the liquid on his skin lit up like it was gasoline. He screamed, and Chaney gasped as his control slipped. Her hand was on the railing, ready to vault over to her death three stories below on a very ugly looking machine with lots of sharp angles. She turned around just as the spray caught fire, and the column of flame shot back to the machine.

Oh shit.

The machine blew up just as someone grabbed her and wrapped her in a tight embrace. Her savior bent over her, and she heard the roar of flame above her. Above them his flames were overwhelming those of the explosion, creating their own sonic boom to neutralize the one that would have otherwise swept them clean off the gangway. She was picked up suddenly and carried down the gangway with her head tucked against the guy's chest to keep her face from being burnt off. Just as suddenly, however, she felt the ground drop out from under them, and her stomach got left behind as they went plummeting toward the ground. Chaney gasped and grabbed hold of her hero's leather coat.

Leather?

They hit the ground, and suddenly the floor buckled underneath them and gave way. They plummeted another forty feet into a basement storeroom, and Chaney held her breath as the whole building started coming down on top of them. The sound was earsplitting, and the ground shook under them. The ceiling was closing in, grinding against the hard stone walls, and a huge metal beam was leading the way. Chaney could see its ends sending sparks through the room, illuminating their impending demise. She gripped her savior's jacket harder as the rubble slowed, screeching, and ground to a halt just a couple yards above their heads. Everything went black then, and Chaney listened to the sound of her savior's breathing for a time. The explosions went on above them, distant now, and she let her breath sigh out.

The guy groaned in pain, but a moment later, a flame flared to life in the middle of the room, and she looked over at the man who had saved her. A pair of dark brown eyes looked back at her, and she felt her chest constrict. In the following moment, she wasn't sure whether she were feeling overwhelming joy at seeing him, or overwhelming dread. Either way, the sudden overload of emotions made her mind go blank in stunned disbelief.

Her mouth opened, and his name came out. "Warren?"

There was no mistaking the hulking, punk-ish, leather and torn jeans-clad figure complete with dark expression and hooded eyes. Living and breathing, all six feet two inches of him—and man, but was it hard to remember immediately why she was so pissed that he was here. She knew that face, that stupid haircut that looked so good on him, and geez did it feel good to have his arm around her waist, with his hand against her side. That warm touch was almost enough to make her forget that she DID NOT want him here.

He stumbled then, and she reached out to put a hand on his chest, steadying him.

"Warren?" Her tone was different this time. Worried. Dammit, had he gone and gotten himself hurt after all?

He reached up to cup her face, and then just let out an explosive sigh and wrapped both his arms around her. Surprise should have been the first thing in her mind as she felt herself pressed against his chest, but nooooooooo. Instead she felt a tear squeeze out of the corner of her eye. Part of her brain was still caught on 'idiot, idiotidiotidiotidiotidiot why oh WHY did he come?,' but some recessed little part of her, which hadn't come out in a long time, was relieved beyond words that someone had cared enough to actually risk life and limb to come get her.

HER. The glorified merchant of death tool which SIN yanked around on a thread most of the time. Thank God, someone cared—and not just any someone.

"Well at least you came back this time," she said into his jacket, and he tightened his grip on her. She lifted her arms finally to hug him back.

"I hadn't planned on finding you myself, but I guess this is a good time to apologize." He said, and his voice had a rougher quality than usual.

Chaney pushed away. "What the hell do you mean, 'apologize'? What on earth do you think you have to apologize for?"

Warren gave a soft snort. "Well, I'm glad you seemed to have forgotten, but it's kind of my fault that you were taken. We keep getting ripped apart, and you always end up the worse for wear." He glanced down at her then, and his jaw seemed to slacken just slightly. Whether it was from her myriad of bruises or the character of her outfit, she wasn't sure. He let out a slow, shuddering breath and shut his eyes. "Chaney…damn it." His fingers tightened on my arms. When he spoke again, he sounded suddenly like everything he'd given was to a losing battle.

"Chaney…You're driving me insane…"

Well. Chaney studied him, her chest warming with the intense affection she'd been harboring for so long. He opened his eyes and looked up at her, and if there had been any part of her heart left which had not already been claimed, it was lost right then and there. If love had been a knife, she'd be skewered like a shish kabob ready to be put over the fire and roasted. Heat crawled through her veins like a warm liquor, and those chocolate brown eyes just kept right on looking at her. Damn it, she could barely say no to a puppy when it gave her those eyes. How was she supposed to put up barriers against such a soulful look…especially when the intensity behind it had an overwhelming effect on her, ah, sympathies? "I love you" sounded way too simple to say out loud. Those eyes were saying a million things, and she was aching to reply.

She smiled, and felt her lips wobbling as they stretched into the most heartfelt gesture she'd ever made. "I guess I forgive you then…"

She didn't get to finish. Yeah, guess why. This time when he made his move, it wasn't because the heat had addled his brain, or because he needed comforting. Nope. This time, when he pushed her against the wall, under a detonating building, in pitch black with only his fire to give light to their surroundings, he leaned in to kiss her like he had forgotten everything else.

Ah…finally, he was kissing her like he meant it. His grasp was almost painful, like he was too scared/desperate/unsatisfied to dare letting go. Mmmmm. How blissful. His hair tickled her face.

Oh. What's this? Wasn't it nice how easy it was to figure out when a guy wants a girl? Chaney smiled against Warren's lips and slipped her hands under his jacket to run them up his back…

…And pulled back abruptly, just as he hissed in pain before doubling over. All her good feelings rushed out of her like lead dropping through her feet into the floor. She pulled her hand away from him to look down at the slick, red, glossy liquid smeared across her palm.

She went cold. "Oh my god." She looked down at Warren, and realized then what it must be like for everyone else to walk into a fight knowing how mortal they were, and how likely it was that death was near at hand. To walk in fear of death, to see its ugly face and be terrified not only for herself but for someone she was head over heels in love with—that was the worst thing she'd ever felt. Far worse than the agony she'd lived through in Slade's interrogations.

"Warren?" She dropped to her knees so fast she heard them crunch against the ground…but she felt no pain as she reached out to grip Warren's shoulders. "Warren? What the hell's happened to you?" Damn it. She knew he shouldn't have come! She had just KNOWN he would get himself hurt, or killed.

He pushed her hand off his shoulder. "I got cut by one of the men. Hurts like _hell_, but it's not serious. Don't worry. Oh…_fuck_…Chaney…don't…" He crouched down in front of her, slowly, to look her in her watering eyes. Tears spilled over, and he sighed before changing tactics. He switched to a tone that sounded more like his usual mean-tempered self. "Seriously, Chaney. I'm not that easy to kill. You don't have to waste the waterworks on me, so stop already." He ran a hand up her arm, and when she looked him in the eye one corner of his mouth turned up in a pained smile.

Chaney leaned forward and slipped her hands up the sides of his face. She kissed him, slowly, desperately, and he caught her elbow in an almost crushing grip as he kissed her back. She broke it first, again, and dropped her head. He was shaking, but now she wondered if it was largely because of blood loss. "If you really don't want me to cry," she said, and her voice broke, "then don't go and get yourself hurt like an idiot."

He chuckled. "That sounds kind of backwards."

"Shut up and let me see that damned wound."

He shook his head. "I don't want you to freak out any more than you already are. You're damned inconvenient to deal with when you're that way."

Chaney snorted, and reached up to drag the back of her hand across her nose. Great—what was she, a first grader? "How would you know?"

"I grew up with you, remember?"

Wow. If he really wanted to open the floodgates all he would have to add would be something cheesy to that line and she wouldn't be able to leave for another hour.

She took a deep breath and pulled her arm out of his grip, then stood and walked to the other side of the room. She needed distance if she was going to calm down.

"Fine," she said. "Then we need to get out of here and find Sheila. She can heal you."

Warren shook his head. "Not yet. Will and the others went to help the students, and we agreed to split up so I could find you and hang back in case anything went wrong. We'll need the element of surprise be any help if they fail, and right now we have a good cover. A building just collapsed on us, and they'll think we're dead. We should wait, give the building time to stop blowing up, and then sneak out."

Chaney shook her head. "No. We need to get your wounds taken care of NOW."

Warren sighed in frustration, and pushed himself to his feet, just to prove he could. The look he turned on her was exasperated. "I'm not going to die on you. They're not that serious."

"Prove it," she said. "If they're serious, I'll make as big a fuss as I have to to get out of here. If I can treat them here, then we can stay."

Warren looked at her for a second, and she wondered if she had said something wrong when a slow smile touched his lips. A look of pure mischief colored the mirth in his face, and it had such an amazing affect on her brain that she almost missed what he was doing…until his jacket hit the floor.

…Oh…shit.

******************************

Sophie rounded the corner to the hanger with Mark—the golden guy—just in front of her. Well, they walked into the portions of rubble that was left of it. She never would have thought that real supers could cause this much damage, but she shouldn't be surprised. All she was used to was a bunch of wimpy school kids. Warren was the only guy at Sky High that could come close to this level of power. Of course, he was gorgeous too, but he was strong. So strong that not even her new acquaintance would be able to stand up to him.

They closed in on the group of kids that had been rounded up and enclosed in the middle of the rubble by Slade's supers. Mark sighed as he took in the dozens of unconscious supers.

"I suppose I should be glad the school kids are still so idealistic," he said. None of theirs were dead. In contrast, two of the students had been killed, and the rest looked so traumatized that Sophie doubted they would be rebelling again anytime soon.

"All right," Mark called to the room in general. "Where's the pyro and his girl?"

*********************

Chaney suddenly realized her mouth was dry. She hadn't really realized what she was demanding until he slowly reached up and slowly pulled his shirt off. She swallowed—he really WAS ripped. He dropped his shirt and stepped forward, moving himself right up in her face.

"Well?" he asked, and his tone was just one step off from gloating. "Do I look like I'm about to die?"

Chaney's eyes trailed downward, trying not to get distracted as they sought the wounds he'd spoken of. They were half-way down his midsection, on his left side, and though they were bloody, they didn't look too fatal…especially since he didn't seem to be too…worried about them…wow…

He reached up then to brace his hands on the wall on either side of her. His face was only inches away, and she could feel his hot breath brushing over her face. The blood that coated his skin just above his waistline trailed down his skin, over the muscle that curled around from his side and dipped into his boxers, whose red-soaked waistband was just barely visible above his jeans.

Chaney swallowed the saliva that was pooling in her tightly shut mouth, and she suddenly found herself fighting a stupid grin that wanted to take over her face. It was pure idiocy, but she suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to giggle…damn, was he hot…

…hehe…hot…

FOCUS CHANEY!!!!

"So? How's it look to you?" Warren asked, distracting her again. He was messing with her. That damn badass attitude of his was rearing its ugly head again, feeling all cocky and superior. "Am I gonna live?"

Chaney swallowed again. "Dunno," she said lamely, completely unable to think up a clever comeback, and reached a hand up to slap it over her mouth before she could give away how tickled this whole situation was making her.

"Maybe you should touch them," he said, and the tone he used brought her gaze up finally…

And then suddenly she was staring into his eyes, and could see how they'd glazed over. Her mirth faded completely, and now she'd suddenly forgotten what had had her so preoccupied before this moment. She was close enough to see how his thick lashes had dipped low over hooded eyes—long lashes, secretive, luring…seductive—and she saw the shadows they cast over his smug expression, and she wanted desperately to reach up and run her fingers through the thick brown and red locks. She was surrounded not only by the sight of him, but by the feeling of his nearness – the heat of his body, and his scent.

He dropped one arm to grab her hand, and guided it to the holes in his side. Chaney looked down, past smooth muscle and tanned skin to the wounds in his body. She could feel the heat start rolling off of him. She saw then that the wounds were—strangely enough—being sealed by ash. Her fingers were being trailed over smooth hot skin, and when her fingertips touched the edges of his wounds, she became hypersensitive to the jagged damage on his skin. Warm…wet…oh, why did that make her heart race faster? Why, instead of disgusting her, did it seem…so…

She felt her eyelids fluttering shut, feeling dazed. She yanked her hand away, and backed up, trying to get some distance between them so she could regain her senses. She only got as far as the wall though, and Warren grabbed her wrist before she could slip away.

She swallowed. "Let go, Warren," she said.

He cocked his head. "Now that's an interesting demand. You seem to be hoping that I still have a conscience. I'm used to being the bad guy, remember?" He leaned forward, until his nose was almost touching hers. She could see the heat waves rolling off him, and felt the sweat gathering on her skin. "Besides, if I'm going to be hated for it anyway, why shouldn't I just take what I want for once?"

He leaned in and kissed her once, lightly, and smiled when her jaw dropped. Then he kissed her for real.

****************************************

Will stood up under the plane, gathering all his strength to lift the front up off the ground, where the first wheel had been broken off. Layla was watching his back in the middle of the warzone as the others fought.

Will wheezed, trying to remember that he had to keep breathing while straining against the weight of the plane. They had to get out.

They were outnumbered, and outgunned, as it were. If they didn't make it, Warren would use what they had learned to take back to SIN. They would have to attack now. They HAD to come save the students.

They just had to. Will just hoped Warren wouldn't try anything…

***************************************

Chaney was drifting in mental oblivion, blissful, overjoyed, obsessed…

Really, officially, obsessed. Somehow she'd wrapped her arms around Warren's neck without noticing, cradling his head in her embrace. Years of repressed emotion suddenly welled up and overflowed. Warren had been her first love, and the part of her that she'd locked away to keep safe had never forgotten that love.

Mmmmmm. And now he was kissing her like he was really kissing _her._ Hallelujah!!!!!!

Wait. Wait…this wasn't the time…or the place…as much as she hated it, they needed to stop…

Warren pulled away and dropped his head against her shoulder. He growled in frustration.

Chaney was still reeling from shock. "What is it?" she asked, trying to drag her senses out of a soup field of warm and fuzzy brain fog.

"I haven't exactly…broken up with Sophie yet."

Chaney snorted. "You know, if I cared for her at all, that might have had a severely dampening affect on my mood."

Silence.

"That's not what's really bugging you, is it?" she asked.

*******************************************

He really shouldn't have done that.

Dammit. Will and the others were still out there fighting, his side hurt like…like he'd been shot, and he knew what was going to have to happen in a couple hours, so making that particular move had been…a bad move.

"Warren?" Chaney's voice seemed t come from a long way off. He couldn't tell her how badly he was really hurt. He wasn't going to die, but he couldn't fight for a few hours yet.

"Warren!" Chaney ducked down to look up at his bowed head. Her fingers slipped up his face, her cool touch feeling soooooo good against his burning skin. He closed his eyes to keep from looking at her face, and leaned his head forward to whisper in her ear.

"I'm sorry," he said, and snapped a quick blow to the side of her neck. She crumpled, and he caught her against his chest. He had lied to her. Will hadn't wanted him to come back the team up. They had agreed to meet outside of the compound, or not at all. Warren wasn't willing to take the chance that Chaney wouldn't want to leave. He didn't want to leave the others, but it was the wiser choice. If Will couldn't get out with the others, then someone would need to go back to SIN and report. With Slade's headquarters going up in smoke, they would need to transport the students if things went back for Will. That would take time, and it would leave behind a trace. Slade would be vulnerable.

He had to retreat to regroup and attack again if needed, or go for help. Neither he nor Chaney could afford to stay, and despite the short amount of time that he had known her again, Warren was pretty sure she wouldn't leave willingly.

Warren slipped his arms under Chaney and hefted her up against him. Her head rolled against his collarbone, her hair tickling his skin. What an odd feeling. Her hair trailed down her shoulder, and the tips brushed softly against his side, making his skin tingle as his senses heightened. He caught his breath as his awareness spiked, suddenly hyper aware of her, like he had been that day in the cave…Warren bent his head to press his forehead against hers, taking slow, deep breaths to clear his mind. He wanted to protect her. It burned in him so keenly that the pain it caused overshadowed the pain in his side. Something beat in him, so deep down that he felt swallowed by it, and it filled his mind and body, filling him to bursting with a desire so powerful he almost forgot about his wounds.

"I'm sorry," he whispered again, straining against everything he wanted. He wanted so badly to hold her like this for a little while longer, but they needed to leave.

Warren forced himself into motion. He bent to grab his shirt and jacket, and draped them over her. His heat was dying, fortunately. He didn't want to burn her accidentally. Boy, would that suck…

Warren turned and looked up at what used to be the ceiling, then around him at the rubble. He needed to get Chaney out of here. Warren stepped forward, spotting a jammed door against one wall. There were several large hunks of drywall and big beams in front of it—crap, that would make it hard to get out…

Warren climbed up it, carefully, and scooted over the beams to push against the door. Unfortunately, it opened outward, and the debris was blocking it. Then again, since it was bent in by half a foot and one corner had been ripped away from its hinge…

Warren crouched and braced Chaney against him, then pulled his arm out from under her knees to place his hand on the door. He shut his eyes and concentrated. Just a short burst should do it.

BOOM! The door shot inward, and he opened his eyes to watch it fly a dozen yards down the hallway beyond, the door frame and hallway charred by his blast. Glowing embers set off rippling heat, and the drywall was burning in some places. Whoa. He hadn't used that much power…had he? This whole fluctuation thing was getting really annoying. Warren wrapped his jacket around Chaney's head and shoulders, and pulled her trench coat tight over her legs, then started in.


	18. Back in a Nightmare

Chapter 18

Will looked around and screamed at the top of his lungs for the kids to follow him. They hadn't all escaped. Zach was stuck in the hanger, with some of the other prisoners that had been captured. Magenta had nearly fallen apart when she watched him get captured. She'd gone back. Ethan was somewhere in the throng of beaten, desperate students who were swarming the hillside around Will. Slade's agents were still hounding them, but they were ducking into caverns all over the hills, which were littered with honeycomb tunnels. Rocks were flying all around them, wind whipping up in concentrated, weaponized frenzies, powers flying around everyone. A huge wall of plants was attacking Slade's agents. Layla stood among them, with a group of other nature kids, concentrating their efforts to make a single attack.

Will flew into the path of another super and punched him in the face, throwing the man off his hoverboard and into another super. Will couldn't even keep track of what powers they had anymore. He didn't have a plan. He couldn't think. All that he knew he had to do was knock as many supers out of commission as he could, without getting taken down himself. He had to protect the students.

He hoped Warren had gotten Chaney out. Will had known that the chances of getting the students out had been even slimmer than rescuing Chaney. That was why he'd told Warren to get her out. They would need back up later, if SIN was willing to send someone…but that had been his hope at the time. Now…

Will hurled a boulder into the chest of a giant man, whose size reduced immediately when he was knocked out. Will jumped over the attack of another super, and grabbed the scruff of a shapeshifting bear and threw it against a mindbender who was trying to control a group of students. Then he realized that he had thrown a bear, and was momentarily pleased with himself.

Something hit him in the back of the head, and he flipped head over heels. To land on his back, head spinning and agony shooting across his vision. A face appeared over him—a rough looking man with a crooked grin reached down to grab Will by the front of the shirt and threw him against another rock formation. Students were screaming all around them, drowning out Will's cry of pain as he hit the rock and fell to the ground. He was super strong, not invulnerable. The guy grabbed Will again and threw him into the mouth of one of the caverns, and Will hit a jagged formation that dragged a sharp ledge down his back, tearing open his shirt and leaving a long cut down his spine.

"How's it feel to fight someone as strong as you are, Stronghold?" asked the guy, and Will looked up, trying to make out the man's features. The guy was smiling. "Hehe, you know, Peace wasn't the only villain your parents put behind bars. You should be honored, today I'm going to kick your ass for their sake." The guy wound up suddenly and brought his fist down into Will's gut, and Will yelled in pain, doubling over the fist and writhing in pain. He reached out and grabbed the man by the foot, and the guy chuckled.

"You pathetic students," he said, and kicked Will's hand off. "You could never do what's needed." He reached down to wrap his big hand around Will's head, and lifted him to walk back to the mouth of the cavern, where all hell was raging outside. "Look at them kid!" The guy laughed at the screaming students, and at their desperate attempts to defend themselves. "They need a leader. Someone who's willing to shed a little blood to protect them. You're a good kid. That's why Slade's the better man. You should have left them in their cages."

Will's world was drifting in and out of oblivion, but he heard the last part. Should have left them? He looked out at all the students. A lot of them were wounded. A lot of them would be left behind. Most of the ones who had left the group were being picked off by Slade's agents, to be taken back to the compound. Later they would be moved to another secret compound, and they would be caged again.

No way that was going to happen to his classmates.

Will chuckled. "You guys are all the same," he said, and reached up to wrap his hand around the man's wrist. He dug his thumb into the man's pressure point, and he heard the man hiss as his grip loosened. The guy's other hand came around to grip Will's neck, ready to make a quick twist and end it all. Will just yanked the man's arm around and twisted it behind his back, and then broke it…right before the man laughed and swung around to deliver a swift punch to Will's jaw.

"You pathetic kid. I give you a chance to escape, and that's all you can do with it?" The guy laughed, and pulled his t-shirt off to wrap it around his arm. Then he turned to look Will in the eyes. "Come on, kid. Try again."

Will looked him in the eyes then, and realized that he hadn't ever faced someone as strong as him—besides his dad. The guy shouldn't even be able to lift his arm…the fact that he could laugh off the pain meant that Will hadn't made enough damage…which was disturbing in and of itself. Will swallowed, and decided to try another maneuver. He picked up a rock, threw it at the man, and then, when the guy ducked, Will turned and ran back into the mountain.

He heard the laughs echo behind him, and knew that the guy had decided to follow when he heard the man's mocking voice echo down the tunnels.

"Stupid kid. You all do the same things."

_We'll see_, Will thought.

************************

"They're not here."

Sophie looked up at the golden guy. "What?" she asked. "What do you mean they're not here? Where else would they be?"

The golden guy didn't answer, but instead lifted his hands to his lips to let loose a shrill, deafening whistle. Sophie's hands shot up to her ears, but too late. A couple of the nearest agents came back from the battle, and the golden guy crossed his arms as they came up to either stand or hover on their boards before him.

"The girl is gone, and so is the Pyro. Take half our forces and go find them."

One of the agents, a tall spike-haired guy with red tattoos on his face looked concerned. "But sir," he said, "we're rounding the kids up now, if we take men away to look for a couple of kids, then we'll lose them."

Golden guy's arm snapped out to grab the super's shirt front and yanked him forward. "The girl and the Pyro are the priority. I've questioned three students so far and none of them have a clue. They're idiots. So I want you to find them for me. Got it?"

The guy nodded, along with the other supers who had gathered, and then they dashed off to carry out his orders.

Sophie watched them go, her brows furrowed. She reached up to rub some warmth into her arms. Why was she so cold? She was in the desert, for crying out loud!

Warren…maybe she had made the wrong choice. Sophie looked up at the golden guy, and realized for the first time that she couldn't see his features when he was in this form. They were vaguely human, but there was no expression, no eyes. Just a statue of molten gold that moved and flowed like magic, with an indistinct resemblance of humanity.

Why had she done this again?

Then she remembered Chaney's face, remembered how the girl's eyes had turned with such intense sorrow to look at Warren. Sophie remembered how Warren had turned his back on her, forgotten about her, to face this new girl. He was no better than her parents. Oh sure, he suffered because of who his parents had been, but at least he knew where he had come from.

No. She wouldn't regret this. She would help this strange humanoid hurt her enemies. Then, when the time was right, she would switch sides and help Warren out. Maybe then he would remember her.

_What about Chaney? _A part of her wondered. Sophie dropped her arms and turned away from the battle scene, blocking the image of the fleeing students from her mind.

She didn't want to acknowledge her plans for Chaney.

*********************************

It was pitch black, slimy, and cramped. Warren wasn't even sure what it was, but it smelled foul—like sulfur. Yup, these were definitely the caverns. He'd carefully pulled Chaney over his shoulder and onto his back, and then crept along on hands and knees through a tunnel so small that he felt like he was crawling through his grave.

His muscles ached. Every step was agony. His fingers bled from hitting rocks he hadn't seen, and his knees were on fire—almost literally. Worst of all, he was sweating with the effort not only to keep moving, but to keep his flames from igniting and hurting Chaney. They wanted so bad to burn, burn everything nearby. Cloth, flesh, soil, rock…everything. He felt the energy inside of him, knew that it fueled his body and that was the only reason he could keep going. The sheer amount of it felt oppressive, like his body were a container and it was straining against his skin, trying to break loose.

He couldn't let it, though. Chaney was unconscious. She would be burnt alive.

The pain in his side was deadening. Even it felt like it was being forced out, like there was no room in his body for anything besides that pressurized power. No room for thought, no room for pain, no chance of stopping. Warren felt like his body was falling apart, but he kept moving, growing numb to his pain even as the pain grew more acute.

How long had he been crawling through these tunnels? Walking, running, crawling…it felt like it had been days, but he was fairly sure it had only been a few hours. Maybe less.

At least, as he grew number, even the guilt died away. Every step he took further away from the compound was another step he had to take away from the other students. He'd given his word, he knew it was the better choice. He knew that, if the others needed his help, he could give it better once things had died down. They were on their own, but that didn't change the fact that he felt like a coward, crawling away through these tunnels, selfishly saving the one person whose safety mattered most—to him.

Hell's flames…he wondered if he would even feel them. Maybe finally he would encounter something hot enough to make him feel, because that was undoubtedly where he was heading.

The tunnel started opening up then, and Warren straightened a little. He hadn't dared light a flame for fear of burning the whole cavern, but now as the pitch darkness gave way to a yawning emptiness, he realized he had to risk it. He should be able to protect Chaney from a…

_WHOOSH_ It was like he'd feared. The walls and floor of the cavern must have been lined with sulfuric acid…and whatever else was down here. The entire cavern lit up like the sun, the heat so intense that Warren ducked back into the little tunnel to throw up a protective barrier of flames before him. Fortunately, the fire was spreading outwards, so fast that it looked like a huge, blinding fuse burning swiftly toward the TNT. It burnt out seconds later, but the flames continued into adjoining tunnels, racing along out of sight.

Warren blinked, blinded, and heard Chaney whimper.

He turned, putting his back to the flames and placing his fire-proof body between her and the danger. She was sitting back from him, trying to gain her balance. Her head lolled. He gripped her shoulders, and slipped a hand up to her face to give her a little help.

"Warren?" Her voice was slurred, husky. He swallowed.

"Hang on, Chaney," he said, and her eyes fluttered open. He had a small flame now burning over his shoulder, flickering in the sulfuric air. Chaney choked.

"The air…"

Sometimes, in caverns that had been too near volcanoes, the air became poisonous. Warren swore. It wasn't affecting him. He looked around, wondering which way to go, wondering how long it would take to find better air.

He swore again as Chaney slumped against him. No wonder she had stayed unconscious so long. She might be dying…

His heart skipped a beat at that thought, the situation suddenly seeming so completely terrifying that he could barely breath himself. Chaney lifted a weak limb.

"It stinks…" she said.

"Can you change the air?" Warren asked, desperate.

Chaney's head lolled. He caught her limp body and pulled it against him. He slipped a hand under head and angled it back to look at him.

"Chaney!"

Her rolling eyes struggled to focus on him. "I'm sleepy…" she said.

"Chaney! Focus. Can you change the air so that you can breathe it?"

Chaney looked up at him. "Not all of it…maybe…not even part of it…can't focus…brain feels like…" She licked her lips, then grimaced weakly. Warren was scooting out of the tunnel, picking her up to lean against him, his already exhausted muscles complaining. It was too far back, and even then, they would be trapped. Forward was uncertain, but he had to hurry.

He grabbed up a rock as he went, and held it up in front of Chaney's face. "Hollow it out," he said, and she lifted a hand to grasp the rock, her fingers overlapping his. The rock melted, slowly, reforming into thin tubular shape.

"Now, fill it with clean air," Warren instructed. Chaney's head lolled again, and he hissed as he picked up his pace.

"Can't…" Chaney said. "Can't…focus…"

So much for that idea. Warren swore and tossed aside the stone cylinder. It shattered against the stone wall, and Warren paused. He glanced around. The chamber was charred, and radiating heat. There were several small tunnels branching off from the cavern, most of them charred.

Wait. Wait. Sulfur…what else burned? Magnesium…that was in the rock. The gasses and fumes in the air burned, making the part that wasn't poisonous thinner. If one of these tunnels led to clean air, then maybe all he had to look for was…

There. Warren turned and bolted for the thinnest, most jagged looking opening in the cavern's side. It was less charred than the other tunnels. Fewer coals glimmered in its crevices. Warren turned sideways and quickly made his way in, careful not to snag Chaney's dangling arm on one of the rocks. He walked through, noting that the tunnel was curving downward, to a surprisingly cooler area. The change was slow, but when Chaney's breathing started deepening, he got excited and moved along faster. He wound around deep fissures in the earth, avoiding jagged cliff faces that rose up just feet apart from each other, shooting flames out every now and then to light the way.

Flames burned oxygen too though, so he was careful not to let the flames get too big.

A rock tumbled down a black fissure in the ground, and Warren paused, trying to regain the balance he'd just lost. The rock kept falling, its echoes getting dimmer as it got farther away. Warren gripped Chaney a little tighter, suddenly afraid he might drop her accidentally. That would be a really, really horrible death.

He might resent the chaos her presence had thrown his life into, but he wasn't really the type to take revenge…that way, at least. He might be extremely tempted to wring her neck later, or lecture her for a few hours on how stupid she was, and how reckless and irresponsible…

Wow. He was starting to sound like Powerpuff.

Wait. Where had he gotten that nickname?

The crack in the wall finally opened up to another cavern, and Warren walked out in relief. Chaney was stirring again, wanting down. He set her on her feet, but she could barely stand, so he pulled one of her arms over his shoulder—he had to stoop a little, because that was quite a stretch. His muscles almost sagged in relief as they started forward again, and he inhaled deeply. The air didn't smell nearly as gaseous here, but it did smell…charred.

Warren sent out a couple more little flames, and just as they flared up he sucked in a breath and swore again. The chamber they had entered looked circular, and melted. Jagged rocks that had once been stalagmites and stalactites looked like they had been hit by some massive force.

"How'd we end up here?" Chaney's husky voice asked, not realizing that Warren had just reentered a nightmare.

****************************

A/N - I'm truly and deeply sorry for taking so long to give you guys these last two chapters. Like I said, I broke my hand and couldn't type for the longest time, ect. I realize you guys have probably lost a lot of interest in the story, but I still REALLY appreciate your reviews, so PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE review! It's what keeps me going lol =)


	19. About the Past

Chapter 19

It was the same cavern. The same one he'd killed them in. Warren's muscles, still burning with exhaustion so acute that they fueled the feeling of flames within him, suddenly felt as though they lost all their strength, and he stumbled. He reached out a hand to brace himself against the remains of a stalagmite. The jagged rock surface cut a deep slash into his skin, but he barely noticed the added pain. Chaney tried to brace him, but was too weak. She ended up with a leg braced against the stalagmite, leaning against him on the opposite side and trying to keep both of them from toppling over backwards.

It didn't work very well—and then, with a snarl from Chaney, the stalagmite dissolved and flowed beneath them, forming into a stone bench to catch them as they toppled. Chaney fell across his lap like a puppet suddenly deprived of its strings, and Warren felt chills crawl through him.

He'd never felt chilled before.

They were dead. He'd killed them, here. He'd never even seen the inside of this cavern after the explosion. They pulled him out and when he came to Principal Powers had called him to her office. He was supposed to go to court, but being a super, he couldn't really go to normal court. Instead, he'd been waiting to hear the judgment that SIN would hand down.

He might have ended up like his dad. He still might, having escaped SIN headquarters as a criminal.

Chaney's hand had fisted in his tee shirt. She had her head buried against his abdomen. She was saying something…he shouldn't leave her laying there, but he couldn't move.

Now that he thought about it, he smelled copper on the air…copper…like blood.

Warren doubled over Chaney's head and groaned. "I'm a monster," he whispered.

Chaney pulled herself away from him and slowly, slowly sat up to wrap her arms around his shoulders and rested her forehead against the back of his neck.

"Actually," she said, "you aren't." She took several deep breaths, and she seemed short of oxygen. Her quick breathing was all that filled the silence in the air.

After a while, she continued.

"You were the best of us," she whispered. "You always were. You were the one with the most potential, but you were so stubborn that you were absolutely impossible to work with. They thought you were just bullheaded, but those of us you always stuck your neck out for knew the truth. You took our beatings, you gave us your food, you made sure we never gave up. You were mean. The meanest guy there, because you thought you had to be tough enough for the rest of us to survive. You were so rebellious. The scientists were always angry with you because you kept their attention, and you would kick us out of harms way if you needed to. You were strong—so much stronger than they thought you were. When they tried to break you, you held on longer than anyone else because you were looking out for all of us."

She fisted her hands in his shirt. "Do you remember, Warren, why it was that they let you go? Do you remember what happened to make them think you would never reach your potential?"

Warren didn't look up. He kept seeing Lash and Speed's faces, and Jake…and… "What happened?" he asked, just to distract himself. His fists were smoking. His skin was overheating, but Chaney kept her arms wrapped around him. It had to hurt, but she kept talking, like she had to.

"I almost died," she said. "In our group, your raw power was highest in the projection scores. Mine was second, but I had better control. They wanted to see if they could draw more power out than they'd predicted, so they stuck me in solitary for a month, in a cell full of cold water. When I sat in it, it came up to my shoulders, and I couldn't sleep. When I did, several times, my head slipped under the water and I woke up unable to breathe." Chaney paused, puffing softly, trying to catch her breath, like she was still in her story. "I would jump up, terrified that I was drowning, and I would cough. Then I would have to sit back down, because I was so tired, and fight off sleep desperately...until the next time I drifted off. That was when I started to break. They put things in there with me, so that I had to crawl up on the piece of wood they left to keep away. I was so terrified that I couldn't think straight. I didn't know until later that you were tearing apart your wing because you were so mad. They put you into solitary too, and I cried for you so many times that after a while, your name was the only thing I could say.

"Then they threw a body in, and it looked like you. I saw the…things they'd put in with me start eating the body, and I screamed and jumped into the water with them, and started throwing them off. They started biting me, all I could think of was how scared I was and that you couldn't really dead…you just couldn't be dead. You couldn't have left me like that. I dissolved the creatures that were hurting you, and they became nothing more than liquid floating in the water, and the water spread, turning to mist in the air, and then flew outward, hitting the walls like a solid force as I grabbed hold of you and the walls collapsed. I screamed and screamed, and then they put me in the dark, and all I could do was cry. They would talk to me over the speakers, except I didn't know it was them, and they whispered things to me that I began to think were in my own head."

"Oh my god," Warren whispered.

"Death and hatred and bitterness," Chaney said. "Distrust. I never knew what those things were until then. I was six years old when they told me that I'd killed that boy that the creatures started to eat, and that I would kill you, but you were alive, and in trouble. I couldn't see you again, but I could save you.

"I blew up the cell," Chaney said, her voice catching on the words. "I killed three guards, because I thought they were the enemy. I'd been hearing the voices for so long that I'd begun to believe I was actually a hostage, and that you were too, and that they were going to kill you. Did you know that children can be the cruelest of killers? They don't internalize their actions, like adults. They don't understand death, so they can't realize the finality of their actions. I didn't even think about the death of those men. I just started destroying, and crying, and screaming, and killing. Then I found you, and you were fighting against your guards. You were protecting the other kids, but I thought they were enemies too. You had to stop me. You fought me, and because you were the last person I wanted to fight, I tried not to hurt you…but then they came to get me, to lock me up again, and I didn't want to go. I didn't want to leave you, and I got so terrified that I lashed out at everyone at once, and you got in the way. You stopped me, but I nearly killed you. I took your flames and I warped them, and I changed everything around me."

Chaney's voice was starting to break. "You almost died," she whispered, her voice catching. "Then when you got better, they realized you didn't have the same power as before, and they sealed away your memories and sent you away. They kept me, because they realized how useful I would be, but they planted three different limiters in me, so that I would never let loose until they wanted me to. I asked people about you as you grew up, and I heard about how you finally made friends three years ago, and I was so jealous."

She let a sob loose then. "You're no monster, Warren Peace. I know what monsters are, and you are not one of them."

Warren sat in horror, staring at the ground as he realized something—he recognized her words. Not just the words, but the sounds that they evoked. The images, the pain. The white lab coats. The cold metal cots with the thin mattresses and the air conditioning on high. The pulsing, buzzing fluorescents. The gagging, the suffocation, the intense training regime. He remembered the tests, he remembered solitary, and he remembered…

Wild eyed, six-year old Chaney, her face contorted in terror and sorrow, so broken that she jumped at everything, killing whatever came near, warping the walls, reshaping everything that lie too near her, until the world seemed to distort around her. The other children cowering behind him…his fear, and his anger…and hate. Hate so consuming that when Chaney's touch destroyed the guards, he couldn't bring himself to regret their death—but then, when he saw that she cried harder every time another life was snuffed out, he realized that he couldn't let her kill any more.

Because he saw something that none of the scientists did. A little girl, scared out of her mind, with powers too great for any one person to bear, and whose soul would be lost if he let her do this.

Chaney's weight against him seemed suddenly distant as he realized…she was still lost now.

Warren closed his eyes and brought his hands up over his head.

This was more than one guy could handle…but then, who was he to complain? He used to think he had been abandoned, that his mother had betrayed him by giving birth to him, by letting Maxwell Vern be his father. In the end though, it was looking like, all his life, he had been the one that abandoned everyone that needed him.

"Fuck," Warren said, the word drawn out into a pathetic whimper.

He had killed three guys.

He had left her behind.

He had KILLED.

Warren's body got hotter, and Chaney let out a little whimper of pain, making him feel even worse. He tried to contain it, to stuff it back in, to lower his temperature...but the angrier he got, the greater his hatred became, and the more if focused inward...and the flames grew.

"They said my mom sealed my powers." he said.

"They lied."

What else had they lied about, he wondered? He remembered Razing from the other day—just the other day?—and his words… "Soshaun Yang, or Soo Yang, Number Seven, has never been anything even resembling normal, Mr. Peace."

That, at least, had been the truth. Warren could barely think of the rest of it, didn't want to think about how the pieces were falling into place, how everything was beginning to make sense.

He couldn't live like this. He _would not_ live like this.

Warren lifted a hand, and pushed Chaney off of him, to stand. He lit another fire by his shoulder, and looked down at her sullenly. He'd failed her so many times, he wasn't sure what to say, but he could offer her this much, at least…

"Why don't we finish this?" he asked. And just like that, the flames in him died down, whipping into a small, volcanic ball in his core, and waited.

Chaney smiled wanly as he reached down, offering her a hand. Then a tear rolled down her face, silently, and his heart ripped in two. There was no bawling, no loss of control. That she remained so carefully composed, so forcefully restrained even in his presence…somehow it seemed even more pathetic than just letting it all out. Normal people could do that. They had the freedom to release such pent up emotion, but the old, sad eyes that looked up at him were used to holding it all in, keeping the pain completely shut off. Something in those eyes said she had accepted the fact that she would never be free of it.

Someday, he hoped he could give her a little of that freedom.

Chaney gave a soft snort then, and dipped her head. When she looked back up, her quirky smile was in place again. She took his hand, and he pulled her up.

Then she wavered, still unsteady on her feet, and reality took away her mask. She chuckled, genuinely now, as he had to catch her.

"First, let's figure out a way to get their attention," she said.

Warren shrugged. "Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of making sure we are capable of fighting them."

Chaney shrugged. "Meh. Just tell them that my PMS is not an experience they want to live through."

********************************************

Will was rasping. The hole in his chest hurt like hell, and Layla was swearing for the first time since he'd known her.

"Will, we have to find Sheila," she said.

"I'm fine," Will winced. There were a bunch of kids in the cavern. Zach and Magenta were there. Zach was glowing, his phosphorescent body providing just enough light to see by.

"No, you're not," Layla said. She sat down by him and put her scarf against the wound to staunch the blood flow. She looked around. "Sheila!" she hissed in as loud a voice as she dared use.

"I'm here," Sheila said quietly as she slunk in from a side tunnel. There was a second cavern just next to this one where the students were gathering. Phaden and a teleporter were out gathering up the scattered students, trying to get everyone safely together. Will's group had evaded capture, but only barely.

_That strongman was terrifying_, Will thought. He'd just barely escaped with his life.

Sheila bent next to him and started healing his wound. He hissed. It wasn't a pleasant experience. Re-knitting flesh, speeding up the blood reproduction, sealing the wound, and re-growing skin was a lot different from the experience one would expect upon hearing the word 'healing'. A nice, fluffy, warm sensation, maybe. Certainly not an agonizing _streeeeeeeeetch_ that seemed to rip his muscles apart even as it knit them back together. A healing wasn't natural when it was augmented to this degree, and that made it painful.

Sheila backed off after a while. "That'll keep him alive," she said. "Any more, and it'll wear us both out too much. There are too many others I need to help right now."

"Do you think they'll have a Sniffer?" one student asked quietly. Will, Layla, and Sheila all turned to see a freshman with cokebottle glasses look up at them beseechingly.

"Maybe," Layla said. "Everyone's powers are doused except Zach's and Sheila's, so we should be fine. The rock makes direction difficult to track down, and besides, we have a Smoker," she pointed to another young boy, on the far side of the cavern, who was clutching his knees and rocking back and forth. "He'll keep them from sensing us."

"What about dowsers?" the kid asked.

Sheila shook her head. "That's the great thing about Smokers. They make it so nothing can find you."

"There are still the old ways," the kid said. "The human ways. Are we really safe? What if they just use a hound to sniff us out?"

Will waved off the comment. "I had a kid who works earth move the tunnels around. Our scent will be all over, and will lead nowhere."

"Then what do we do now?" the kid asked, and much to Will's dismay, many of the kids nearby turned the same beseeching look up at him.

"…Um…" was the best he could come up with.

"We should wait until everyone is gathered," Sheila said as she sighed, and stood. "Then we need to figure out how to contact Warren and Chaney. I'm really worried about them."

"No need," said another voice, and the group turned as Phaden and the teleporter walked into sight, with Sophie and a bunch of other kids on their heels.

Sophie was the one who had spoken.

"Why not?" Sheila asked.

"Because I saw them get buried under a building at the compound," Sophie said. "If they escaped, they can't be in the same area we are. We'll just have to make due with the people we have."

Will sighed. "I hear you," he said, "but we could really use them. They're probably the most powerful supers here," he said.

Sophie nodded. "You're right, but we have to think of a way out first." She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a folded map. "I grabbed this out of the compound before we left," she said. "It should give us an idea of where we are."

Will reached out and took the map. Zach moved closer as he unfolded it, and Will squinted at the paper. He reached up and grabbed Zach's head to adjust him forward, so that he was leaning over the paper and his glow was casting enough light for Will to read. Layla, Magenta, and even Ethan crowded close to look over his shoulders.

"We can get out," Ethan noted.

"Yeah, but at what cost?" Will asked. There was a tunnel leading out, but the plains where they would exit were wide open. They would be sitting targets. "Slade's men could easily outmaneuver us there."

"Funny, for a man you haven't seen much of, you sure are scared of him," Sophie said.

Everyone turned to look up at her.

"For a man who hasn't shown his face much, he sure seems to have a lot of dangerous men following his every command," Ethan noted.

"Yeah," said Magenta. "And for a man who hasn't shown himself much, he sure knows how to scare the living daylights out of the seventy or so kids he took."

"Whoever he is, I don't want to face him," Layla said.

"You're right," said Sheila. Everyone looked at her. She squirmed. "Well, I don't actually know much, but my parents are pretty high up in SIN. They keep a lot from me, but I hear stuff."

"Like what?" Will asked.

"Like the fact that he's actually about sixty or seventy years old, but he looks like a boy," she said.

Will furrowed his brow. "I don't remember hearing that about Slade," he said.

Sheila shrugged. "I also heard that SIN created a group of elite supers to combat him and his closest retainers. All they're called is the Seven, and they don't have names, just numbers."

"Who are they?" Will asked.

"I don't know. All I know is that they're the most powerful supers in the world," Sheila said.

Will exchanged a look with his friends, then glanced around the room at the kids that were trying to listen in. Doubtless, there were probably at least a couple kids with super hearing, but they kept their voices down anyway.

"If they had supers like that, then why didn't they send them to save the students?" Will asked quietly.

Sheila shrugged again. "I don't know. Maybe because they know something that nobody else does."

Surprisingly, it was Layla who spoke next. "Slade left the compound, didn't he?"

Everyone looked at Layla this time. She looked shaken. "It's a pretty big coincidence that he just happened to be gone when we arrived, don't you think?"

No one answered…and then Will remembered something Razing had said…something they all seemed to have forgotten…something rather important.

"The eight remaining test subjects joined Slade…"

"Oh no," he said.

****************************

A/N - I forgot how exciting reviews can be. I keep checking my email to see if anyone's left a comment, and every time I see one I think "They like it! They really like it!" Lol, so cheesy. But anyway, it's cause of the reviews that I stayed up last night writing as much as I could in several different stories. So....yes. =) I'm working on the next chapter...just a few more!


	20. And the Crowd goes WILD!

A/N -- So I found this old story lurking in the closet and remembered that I'd actually had an ending in mind before the rest of the world interrupted. Is it too late to repent?

Chapter 20

Powers looked around at the devastation. Blood was caked on one side of her face. One of her arms hung useless, until one of the healers could manage to reattach some of the tendons in her elbow.

Slade had nearly destroyed them all…but more than him, it had been the supers that were with him. She would never forget those dead eyes, or the sheer power they had used. The one girl, a child, hovering in midair…Powers would never forget the feeling of helplessness as she tried to fend the child off, tried to keep her from ripping apart everything around her. Such powerful telekinesis…and she had dodged every single one of Power's attacks, as though she'd known what Powers were going to do before she ever tried.

The others…they were the same way. Dead, spiritless, powerful. It should be impossible that Slade could control them, but he did.

They followed his every order—though there had only been six of the eight. One necromancer, a being who was so powerful he could control living and dead alike, one an Earthen—a child of the earth, who could rip apart cities. Another was a nullifier, a child who could focus on protecting his allies, keeping any attacks from fully reaching them. One had stood in a corner, staring into space, like she could see nothing and everything at once.

The last had never fought, but Slade kept him quivering on a hoverboard at his side.

They were monsters. All of them. Powers looked around at the destroyed underground facilities, and the rescue crews, and hoped that they could find everyone under the rubble before any more deaths were caused. She stumbled as she walked forward, the gash on her head throwing off her balance even as she stared mutely at the bloody groups of people trying to pull themselves together. There was very little sound in the huge chamber. Sobs here and there, a wail from an injured young woman, the screams of a dying man…but there were few, so few. Who knew how many had been buried beneath the collapsing structures, or killed by Slade's onslaught.

It seemed to have all disappeared in an instant—and the children, their future…the future of their race…they should not have suffered this. It had been foolishness, to try and gather so many in one place. Of course Slade would have attacked. It would have been a gross oversight on his part if he hadn't.

Powers bent to wrap her arms around a teenager that was sobbing over the body of a young man. She leaned her head on the girl's and rocked back and forth numbly.

"Shh," she said. "Shh, it'll be all right. We'll fix it all, somehow."

She kept repeating the words, like it was a mantra, but there was no fixing death. It was only because of the moment that neither of them questioned her statement.

'We'll fix it'…how laughable, when she thought about it. Had it not been them who had created this whole catastrophe? Or, if not created it, then perhaps it would be more accurate to say that they had given birth to the perpetrator.

Hate. Greed. They were supposed to be a superior race, with the good guys and the bad guys clearly delineated. Where had it all gone wrong? Where had they forgotten who they were?

The saviors of mankind, some called them. It was a name given in ignorance, reverence given in bright-eyed naivete. The heroes…they had been the heroes. SIN had been a corporation built to bring stability to a people of great power. Civic duty was something a hero prided him or herself in.

Had that been discarded somewhere along the lines? Powers was terrified to think that she might be considered a relic, and that perhaps a new generation of supers had been raised to think that such ideals were a thing of the past.

Powers rocked back and forth and prayed—prayed that somehow, Slade would be stopped before he destroyed any more of them, and that SIN would get its ass kicked for causing this disaster.

* * *

Sheila crouched low as she moved through the tunnels, away from the main group. It was stupid to separate from them, but they weren't ready to go looking for Chaney. Will kept saying that Warren was with her, and that they would be fine together until they could be located.

They didn't understand. None of them understood. Sheila had seen Chaney come in the day after the explosion. Warren had been the one to do that to her. She'd touched Chaney's dead flesh with her mind, had seen the damage that lay beyond the skin, and beyond the body, and had been torn that she could only heal Chaney's flesh. Sheila had cleaned all the dead, burned flesh away and re-knit her friend back together.

Friend. That was a special word for her. Most people didn't…quite like her. No. That wasn't quite it. They all pretended to like her. They all pretended to look away, and laughed nervously whenever she showed too much affection. It was all right—because Chaney was there. She'd always been there. Even back at the labs, when they'd both been caught up in the ambitions of SIN.

A lot had happened since then, but Sheila's first alliance had never changed. Before anyone else, she was on Chaney's side. Her friend's side.

*****************

Will was directing the students into groups, trying to put a few offensive capabilities and defensive capabilities in each group, as well as some of the more powerful supers who could do both. The healers he directed to remain separate, attempting to optimize everyone's chances of escape and allow for the super-version of EMTs for the battlefield.

He'd never felt so worn out in his life. He ached everywhere except for the area Sheila had healed. Every time he thought he'd gotten through all the students, there were more. Hadn't there only been sixty captured students? Why were there so many? He asked a few questions, and learned that many of the kids had been taken from outside Sky High. Some had been in the compound for years, awaiting Slade's whims. Some had been taken over just the last year.

"Why would he need so many?" Layla asked. Will shrugged. He had no clue. Stuff like that was stuff he left up to the smart people, like Warren and Chaney. He was just the guy with the brawn. He did what he could.

He glanced up as Ethan came over with Zach and Magenta. "You finished?"

The three nodded. "We found some interesting powers," Ethan said, and handed Will a notebook and a flashlight.

Will shot Ethan a speculative look. "You carry around a notebook with you?" he asked.

"Only a mini one. It always comes in handy," he said, and Will shook his head as he trained the flashlight on the paper and started reading.

"These are all in separate groups?" Will asked.

The three nodded. Ethen stepped up to point out a few. "We've kept complimentary powers together, forming similar squads to the ones that Slade's people were using. Do you remember how they were attacking us in groups where their powers were being augmented?"

Will shook his head. "All I remember were a bunch of big bangs."

Ethan sighed in frustration. "Well, they fought in groups that worked well together, not like fire and water, you know?"

Will thought about it. "Not really. Go on."

Ethan rolled his eyes. "Well, there were some people with earth powers, and some people who could use earth to make a better attack with their powers. Fire and rock make magma, you know your science, right?"

Will glanced guiltily to the side. Layla met his gaze, and winked. "He's not particularly strong in that subject," she said. "But I know what you're talking about. The thing is, even when their powers didn't work well together, they could still use each other in ways we'd never dreamed of working."

Ethan nodded. "Yeah, well, if we wanna live we're going to have to be creative. I'm no general, but even I can see that if we don't come up with some sort of plan, we're screwed. Especially if those super-supers are with Slade like you said."

Will nodded. "I'll talk with the students. Have you found any that can locate Chaney and Warren?"

"No. I found a mind-sender who can relate messages for short distances, but nothing too extreme. I did find two more teleporters."

Will nodded. "The school had four of them. How many can they teleport?"

"If everyone is touching, then they should be able to get all of us," Ethan said.

"Good," Will said. "Now we just have to figure out how closely we're being watched, and how we can escape."

* * *

"So I have a question for you," Warren said.

"Shoot." Chaney was crawling over a huge rock formation with extreme care, and Warren reached out a hand to help her down.

"Where are we going?" he said, and caught her when she tripped on the last step.

Chaney chuckled as she recovered her balance. "Aren't you the one who bolted off in some random direction?"

"Yes, but I think it's probably time we thought up a plan."

Chaney shrugged, and reached up to rub her temples as Warren steadied her. "Maybe, maybe not. You know, Missy can see the future based on what people are thinking. It's basically a glorified form of quantum calculation, or something like that. Instead of reading people's mind, she extrapolates on everyone's intentions and comes up with the most plausible course that the future might take."

"So you're saying it's better to wing it."

"It's worked so far."

Warren paused then, and whirled. "Hey. Do you hear that? It sounds like someone talking."

Chaney strained to hear it. Sure enough. Voices. "They sound young," she said.

"Yeah," Warren said, and bolted forward so fast that Chaney felt like her crutch had been ripped out from under her. She teetered and shot out a hand to use her powers for stability. Her body halted its reckless forward pitch, and she had to straighten up the hard way, since her muscles didn't seem to want to cooperate.

"WAIT!" She shouted.

Warren was already gone, disappeared around some corner, and hurried forward to catch up with him. Meaning, she hobbled with haste. It was somewhat humiliating, but necessary. Especially since she was pretty sure she'd recognized those voices.

"No need to hurry, cher," said a familiar voice—a little girl's voice, which was very distinctly memorable because it didn't belong to a little girl. "We're here."

Shit. Chaney halted, and turned slowly to face the woman standing behind her, a young girl hovering in the air at her side.

Chaney threw herself backwards and ripped away a section of rock to whip them into a shield around her as loose boulders, broken stalagmites, and bits of magma started flying around the chamber.

---------------

It took a while for Warren to realize that Chaney wasn't on his heels. Why, he wasn't sure. He just knew that suddenly the earth was buckling beneath his feet, and there was a group of Sky High students moving in on his left, their gazes blank and their movements—just marginally—wooden.

He swore, and reached down to steady himself as the hop-skipping floor tried to bring him to his knees. Where had Chaney gone?

The kids attacked, and Warren could have sworn they were reacting strangely as he burned away living, writhing ropes and little clay models of cars and airplanes. So obviously two kids stayed back, using their long-distance distractions, and two more kids were moving up close and personal. Warren blocked the oozing, fetid arm of one transforming kid, and then high-kicked the second, a girl of about fifteen with a body that looked completely normal—until his foot hit her in the face and his ankle snapped, along with several of the bones in his foot.

The pain distracted him, and the oozing kid's touch started eating away at Warren's skin. Warren watched as his flesh bubbled and fell away, decaying before his eyes. The boy hit him in the face with a punch that would have been considered pathetic in a street fight, but then Warren's face started decaying, and the girl kicked his wounded foot out from under him. The blow had been hard enough to knock Warren off his other foot too, and he felt a moment of frustration as his body started plummeting.

At least his body had picked up repairing itself recently. Because his foot freaking HURT, and it was weird to see his own bones.

Warren let loose a wave of flames that billowed out from his body in furious tides, consuming the two supers' as it simultaneously threw them out of reach. The ropes weren't getting anywhere near Warren, and the clay figurines were cracking under the heat.

Unfortunately, the earthen floor still wasn't cooperating. The instant Warren felt the tip of the rising stone spear hit his back, he twisted his body to keep from getting impaled and landed on his feet as two more spires shot up from the ground. The kids were back, and Warren kept fighting, trying not to hurt them while keeping himself from getting hurt. It was a tough enough job that he almost missed the two kids sitting on a ledge near the jagged roofline, one with his eyes glowing as he moved his fingers like a puppeteer, and the other with green skin, weeds for hair, and a grin that resembled a cat in the cream.

"Shit," Warren said, as he realized why the kids were attacking him.

Then the whole cavern started moving, shaping into an army of earthen soldiers, and the kids fell back to disappear among them as bones started oozing up out of the ground and forming into a second army…of dead. Warren looked at the walls, and the ceiling, as more humanoid…things shaped into being, and wondered again what had happened to Chaney.

"Shit," he said again.

* * *

"Nice to see you again, girls," Chaney said as she held the whirling cavern at bay. There wasn't really a shape to it anymore. It just looked like the inside of a tornado, with Chaney at its epicenter, holding back the whirling earthen mass as the young woman gazed at her placidly from her position next to the girl—whose eyes, by the way, were glowing like blacklights. They had the same oxymoron-type glow (really, how does something that's black make a light?), a light that seemed swallowed by itself as she tore the cavern apart.

"I see you haven't changed much, number Three," Chaney told the child, who predictably gave no response. When little May got caught up in her destruction, she really had no brain left for anyone else. Instead her mind wove around the objects she tossed about like sand in a storm. Chaney nodded at the woman, trying to look like it didn't take all her effort just to keep the rampaging herd of house-sized boulders from crushing her. "You're looking older though, Two."

Jai smiled. The eight test subjects had no official names except the ones they'd given each other...officially. Chaney had trouble remembering them as anything but numbers sometimes, but Jai was a special case. Jai had given her name to herself, much to the chagrin of her cellmates, and at the same time had threatened to name Chaney "Hoo-Dung".

She'd never quite gotten along with everyone else, Chaney especially.

"Nice bluff, Seven," number Two--otherwise known as Jai--said, and with that comment, she attacked. Chaney had been dreading the pain, hoping she could get the woman to start in on a monologue like every other good little villain, but nooooooooooo. No time to come up with a plan, or even a way to shut Jai out. Chaney had never been much good at shutting Jai out.

Jai kept on smiling gently as Chaney screamed in pain. Jai could do all sorts of things with the mind. Everything was in the mind. Pain receptors, memories, sensory perception, personality, willpower, bodily control. Chaney felt her mind being wrested from her control, and her concentration faltered enough for some of the smaller rocks to break their way through her shields. They scraped along her skin where they managed to miss her—and plunged straight through her body where they didn't. Chaney's right lung was pierced as one rock went in through the front of her chest and out through the back, breaking bone, crushing flesh, tearing right through her like a bullet without the aerodynamics. Her left thigh got one caught in it, where the bone proved bigger than the stone.

Chaney screamed, and her shields disintegrated, her mind plunging into old memories, her muscles contracting in foreign ways, her vision going topsy-turvy, her hearing like base speakers turned on full volume, her skin going haywire with a mess of sensations and pain, and the entire cavern moved in on her.

* * *

A/N - Well? Thoughts? I almost didn't continue writing until I re-read a lot of your reviews. They gave me...motivation. I am honestly touched by all your positive feedback. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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